Error bar

This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Error bar is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:

Error bars are used on graphs to indicate the error in a reported measurement. They give a general idea of how accurate a measurement is, or conversely, how far from the reported value the true (error free) value might be. Often, but not always, the error bars indicate one standard deviation of uncertainty. They also commonly represent one standard error of the mean.

Error bars can be used to visually compare two quantities, to determine whether differences are statistically significant. They can also show how good a statistical fit the data has to a given function. Scientific papers in the experimental sciences are expected to include error bars on all graphs, though the practice differs somewhat between sciences, and each journal will have its own house style.

External links

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 14 December 2008, at 15:32.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Error bar".

The URL for this specific entry is:

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.