Basic concepts for uncertainty
Nature of Science
Although scientists are perceived as working towards finding "exact" answers, the unavoidable uncertainty in any measurement always exists.
"All scientific knowledge is uncertain . . . if you have made up your mind already, you might not solve it. When the scientist tells you he does not know the answer, he is an ignorant man. When he tells you he has a hunch about how it is going to work, he is uncertain about it. When he is pretty sure of how it is going to work and he tells you 'This is the way it's going to work, I'll bet' he still is in some doubt. And it is of paramount importance, in order to make progress, that we recognize this ignorance and this doubt. Because we have doubt, we then propose looking in new directions for new ideas." - Richard Feynman, 1988, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist, Reading, MA, USA, Perseus. p. 13.
Although scientists are perceived as working towards finding "exact" answers, the unavoidable uncertainty in any measurement always exists.
"All scientific knowledge is uncertain . . . if you have made up your mind already, you might not solve it. When the scientist tells you he does not know the answer, he is an ignorant man. When he tells you he has a hunch about how it is going to work, he is uncertain about it. When he is pretty sure of how it is going to work and he tells you 'This is the way it's going to work, I'll bet' he still is in some doubt. And it is of paramount importance, in order to make progress, that we recognize this ignorance and this doubt. Because we have doubt, we then propose looking in new directions for new ideas." - Richard Feynman, 1988, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist, Reading, MA, USA, Perseus. p. 13.
To see how these concepts are presented on previous IB exams, try the following problems in the IB Course Companion:
Chapter 1: page 24 #7; page 25 #8, 9, 10
Chapter 1: page 24 #7; page 25 #8, 9, 10