usikkerhedsledet

Usikkerhedsledet is a Danish term used primarily within metrology, data quality, and risk analysis. The word translates roughly to the chain of uncertainty and describes how uncertainty propagates through a sequence of steps in a measurement or decision process. The concept emphasizes that uncertainty is not a single number at the end, but builds through calibration, data collection, processing, and interpretation, with each link in the chain potentially adding or transforming uncertainty and possibly introducing correlations between sources.

In practice, the concept is used when constructing an uncertainty budget or evaluating the traceability of a measurement. Analysts map input sources of uncertainty to the final result, quantify their standard uncertainties, and combine them according to the law of propagation of uncertainty. The usikkerhedsledet helps identify dominant contributions and potential reductions, for example by improving a calibration standard, reducing measurement noise, or mitigating correlations.

Terminology: While widely understood in Danish technical literature, the term may appear sporadically rather than as a formal standard term in international metrology. It is related to concepts such as uncertainty propagation, calibration chain, and traceability.

See also: Metrology, measurement uncertainty, uncertainty propagation, calibration chain, traceability.

Etymology: A compound of usikkerhed (uncertainty) and led (link/step or chain), reflecting the idea of an uncertainty chain from source to result.