tripmittaus

Tripmittaus, literally meaning "three measurements" in Finnish, is a simple method used in metrology and experimental science to estimate the value of a quantity and its associated uncertainty by taking three independent measurements under similar conditions. In a typical implementation, a researcher performs three measurements, assesses their consistency, and uses the results to derive a best estimate and an uncertainty interval.

The standard procedure is to compute the arithmetic mean of the three measurements as the estimate of the true value. The dispersion among the three values is commonly summarized with the standard deviation, or with the standard error of the mean (SEM = s/√3), which can be reported as the uncertainty. If one value is clearly inconsistent with the other two, a simple outlier check may be applied, with the possibility of discarding the outlier and using the remaining two or, more appropriately, repeating the measurements.

Tripmittaus is valued for its simplicity, low cost, and educational value, providing a quick check on measurement reliability. It is not a substitute for more thorough uncertainty analysis, larger replications, or a formal uncertainty budget, and it assumes that random errors dominate and that measurements are independent.

Applications include routine instrument calibration, basic laboratory experiments, and field measurements where rapid validation is desirable. The term is primarily found in Finnish-language sources and is related to broader concepts such as replicate measurements and triplicate sampling.