Evaluating Measurement Accuracy ― A Practical Approach

“Evaluating Measurement Accuracy, 2nd Edition” is intended for those who are concerned with measurements in any field of science or technology. It reflects the latest developments in metrology and offers new results, but is designed to be accessible to readers at different levels: scientists who advance the field of metrology, engineers and experimental scientists who use measurements as tool in their professions, students and graduate students in natural sciences and engineering, and, in parts describing practical recommendations, technicians performing mass measurements in industry, quality control, and trade. This book presents material from the practical perspective and offers solutions and recommendations for problems that arise in conducting real-life measurements.

This new edition adds a method for estimating accuracy of indirect measurements with independent arguments, whose development Dr. Rabinovich was able to complete very recently. This method, which is called the Method of Enumeration, produces estimates that are no longer approximate, similar to the way the method of reduction described in the first edition removed approximation in estimating uncertainty of indirect measurements with dependent arguments. The method of enumeration completes addressing the range of problems whose solutions signify the emergence of the new theory of accuracy of measurements. A new method is added for building a composition of histograms, and this method forms a theoretical basis for the method of enumeration.

The first phase of Dr. Semyon Rabinovich’s career was spent in industry, where he created a number of electrical measuring instruments, including those that were mass-produced, as well as unique direct-voltage measuring instruments reaching the theoretical sensitivity limits. In the second phase, Dr. Rabinovich organized the Laboratory of Theoretical Metrology at the All-Union State Research Institute of Metrology (VNIIM) in the former USSR and was the head of this lab for 15 years. After a period in the aftermath of his decision to emigrate from the USSR when any reference to his name was a taboo, VNIIM now lists Dr. Rabinovich among their “renown scientists” in the theoretical metrology area. After moving to the USA, he took part in the work of two ISA Subcommittees in preparing ISA-RP67.04 Recommended Practice “Methodologies for the determination of setpoints in nuclear safety-related instrumentation.” He has published six books and more than 100 other publications including 21 patents. His previous book was first published by American Institute of Physics and saw three editions, with the last edition published by Springer.