Precision and Accuracy: What is the Difference?

Precision and accuracy are two important concepts in the field of measurement and are often used interchangeably, but they do have different meanings. It is important to understand the difference between the two and how they are related, as this can have a significant impact on the results of experiments and the conclusions that are drawn from them.

What is Precision?

Precision refers to the degree of reproducibility or repeatability of a measurement. In other words,

Precision is a measure of how consistent the results of a measurement are when the measurement is repeated multiple times for the same input.

A measurement is considered to be precise if the results are very close to one another, regardless of whether they are close to the true value of the quantity being measured.

We typically use variance to indicate the precision of a model or algorithm.

If a model or algorithm has high precision, it is likely to have low variance, and vice versa.

What is Accuracy?

Accuracy, on the other hand, refers to the degree to which a measurement reflects the true value of the quantity being measured.