Around usage results

There's a subtlety here.

When operating together multiple Arounds, the two uncertainties will be considered separate and independent (in the statistical sense). Thus the result will be different from squaring a single one.

Consider

N@StandardDeviation@
  TransformedDistribution[
    x y, 
   {x \[Distributed] NormalDistribution[10, 1], 
    y \[Distributed] NormalDistribution[10, 1]}]

(* 14.1774 *)

versus

N@StandardDeviation@TransformedDistribution[x^2, {x \[Distributed] NormalDistribution[10, 1]}]

(* 20.0499 *)

The same can also be observed with addition:

Around[10, 1] + Around[10, 1]
(* Around[20., 1.4142135623730951`] *)

2 Around[10, 1]
(* Around[20., 2.] *)

To specify that all occurrences of an Around expression are the same, use AroundReplace.

For example, compare

x^2 + x /. x -> Around[1, .1]
(* Around[2., 0.223606797749979] *)

with

AroundReplace[x^2 + x, x -> Around[1, .1]]
(* Around[2., 0.30000000000000004`] *)

How Around works should be explained by an example.

For an el. Double cable of length l, conductor distance a and conductor radius r, the following values were measured. We are looking for the absolute uncertainty of the mean value of the inductance L: enter image description here

mittlereMessunsicherheit[f_, vars_List, dvars_List] := Sqrt@Inner[Times, Grad[f, vars]^2, dvars^2]

params = {
   l -> Quantity[2, "km"], dl -> Quantity[10, "m"],
   r -> Quantity[2, "cm"], dr -> Quantity[50, "\[Mu]m"],
   a -> Quantity[0.3, "m"], da -> Quantity[3, "mm"],
   \[Mu]0 -> UnitConvert[Quantity[1, "MagneticConstant"]]
   };
vars = {l, r, a};
dvars = {dl, dr, da};
L = \[Mu]0/\[Pi] l (Log[(a - r)/r] + 1/4);

dL = mittlereMessunsicherheit[L, vars, dvars]

enter image description here

UnitConvert[L /. params, "mH"] \[PlusMinus] UnitConvert[dL /. params, "mH"] // EngineeringForm

enter image description here

Same calculation now with Around:

params2 = {
   l -> Around[Quantity[2, "km"], Quantity[10, "m"]],
   r -> Around[Quantity[2, "cm"], Quantity[50, "\[Mu]m"]],
   a -> Around[Quantity[0.3, "m"], Quantity[3, "mm"]],
   \[Mu]0 -> UnitConvert[Quantity[1, "MagneticConstant"]]
   };
L = UnitConvert[L /. params2, "mH"]

enter image description here

Let us turn to OP's questions.

1.)

Around[10, 1]*Around[10, 1]

enter image description here

We have

M = x*y;
dM = mittlereMessunsicherheit[M, {x, y}, {dx, dy}]

enter image description here

params = {x -> 10, dx -> 1, y -> 10, dy -> 1};

and we obtain

M \[PlusMinus] dM /. params // N

enter image description here

2.)

Around[10, 1]^2

enter image description here

M = x^2;
dM = mittlereMessunsicherheit[M, {x}, {dx}]

enter image description here

M \[PlusMinus] dM /. {x -> 10, dx -> 1}

enter image description here

I explained Around in a different way, as Szabolcs formulated it in his answer. The error calculation is well known to us, but that Around performs the same calculation has not been known.

Tags:

Error Propagation

Core Language

Around

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