margin of error
Noun: 1. The permissible limit of miscalculation or deviation: The amount by which a measured or calculated value may differ from the true value and still be considered acceptable or accurate. It is often expressed as a plus-or-minus range (e.g., ±3%). 2. A buffer for uncertainty: An allowance made for the possibility of error in a measurement, prediction, or estimate.
The term "margin of error" is primarily used in statistical analysis, polling, scientific measurement, and engineering to quantify uncertainty. It indicates the reliability of a result.
Examples: * The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. * When measuring the distance, we must account for a small margin of error in the instrument. * The forecast predicts 50mm of rain, with a margin of error of 10mm.
- "To fall within/outside the margin of error": Used to state whether a result or value is statistically indistinguishable from another or is a definitive difference.
- The two candidates' support levels are so close they fall within the poll's margin of error.
- "The margin of error shrinks/expands": Describes how the range of uncertainty changes, typically with sample size.
- With a larger sample, the margin of error for the study shrank significantly.
- Error margin: A less common variant with the same meaning.
- Confidence interval (Statistical term): A related but more precise concept that provides a range of values which is likely to contain the true value, based on a specified probability (confidence level). A margin of error is often half the width of a confidence interval.
- Tolerance (Engineering/Manufacturing): The permissible limit of variation in a physical dimension.
- Leeway
- Allowance
- Tolerance (in specific contexts)
- Room for error
- Plus or minus (±): The symbol and phrase used to express the margin of error (e.g., 20 ± 2 units).
- Sampling error: The part of the margin of error in polling that arises from surveying a sample rather than the entire population.
- the margin required in order to insure safety
- in engineering the margin of safety is the strength of the material minus the anticipated stress