Minimum Weighable Quantity and Percent Error
Smallest quantity a balance or measuring device can measure inside an error limit, and the percent error of a measurement.
Open the tool → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- What to work out
- Percent error of a measurement made
- Unit the device measures in
- mL (a measuring device)
- Quantity wanted
- 5
- Quantity actually obtained
- 5.3
Result: Percent error: 6% (over).
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What you enter
- What to work out: the smallest quantity (minimum), the potential error of a quantity (potential), or the percent error of a measurement made (error)
- Unit the device measures in
- Sensitivity of the device, from its certificate or calibration (minimum and potential modes)
- Largest error accepted, percent (required in minimum mode; optional otherwise)
- Quantity to be measured (potential mode)
- Quantity wanted (error mode)
- Quantity actually obtained (error mode)
How this is calculated
Citation
Arithmetic identity (relative error): minimum quantity = sensitivity ÷ (error ÷ 100); percent error = |obtained − wanted| ÷ wanted × 100. The sensitivity and the error limit are the reader's own figures; none is assumed.
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.