82668
im learning at the moment and stuck on if 精度 'Seido' is correct for
'precision' when describing a piece of measuring equipment as being precise or
accurate? Would be very greatful if somebody could assist, confirm or correct
me.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-17T10:52:43.263
82665
2020-11-17T12:14:41.370
40930
question
translation
Correct word/kanji for Precision
### Accuracy vs precision

Since your question is about the precision and/or accuracy of a piece of
measuring equipment, I think it's especially important to mention that
[accuracy and precision have distinct
meanings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision) in science,
engineering, statistics, etc.

In short, the _accuracy_ of a measurement indicates how close the measured
value is to the true value, while the _precision_ of a measurement talks about
the uncertainty of your measurement. If you're asked to guess someone's height
and also how confident you are of your answer, then _accuracy_ refers to how
close your guess is to their actual height, and _precision_ refers to your
confidence margin (within meters, centimeters, or feet or inches).

## To answer your question

So with the technical distinction in mind, the [Japanese version of the
article
above](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A3%E7%A2%BA%E5%BA%A6%E3%81%A8%E7%B2%BE%E5%BA%A6)
uses:

> Accuracy: 正確度{せいかくど}
>
> Precision: 精度{せいど}

For a lot of technical terms, including accuracy and precision, the 度{ど} at
the end means _degree_ or _magnitude_. Other examples are 温度{おんど}
(temperature), 速度{そくど} (velocity) and 湿度{しつど} (humidity). For all of those
words, you can use 〇度が高{たか}い and 〇度が低{ひく}い to mean _high value_ and _low
value_ respectively.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-17T12:14:41.370
82668
2020-11-17T12:14:41.370
39516
82665
answer