Answer
Student A found the distance to be 0.3827 in., which is further away from the accepted value of 0.3937 in. than the measurement made by student B, who found it to be 0.39 in. Therefore, student B's measurement is more accurate.
If student B measured the distance as 0.3900 in., this measurement would be both more accurate and more precise than their previous measurement of 0.39 in., as it has an additional significant figure and is closer to the accepted value.
Work Step by Step
Accuracy refers to how close a measured value is to the true or accepted value, while precision refers to how reproducible a measurement is.
Student A found the distance to be 0.3827 in., which is further away from the accepted value of 0.3937 in. than the measurement made by student B, who found it to be 0.39 in.
Therefore, student B's measurement is more accurate than student A's measurement, as it is closer to the accepted value.
Precision is determined by the number of significant figures in a measurement. Student A's measurement has four significant figures, while student B's measurement has only two significant figures.
Therefore, student A's measurement is more precise than student B's measurement, as it has more significant figures.
If student B measured the distance as 0.3900 in., this measurement would be both more accurate and more precise than their previous measurement of 0.39 in., as it has an additional significant figure and is closer to the accepted value.