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                      • Numbers representation, tolerance and precision

                      Tolerance

                      Reading time: 1min

                      The Tolerance number is used to compare the student answer and the Correct answer. Denote by sa the student's response, ca the correct answer, and n the tolerance.        

                      Caution

                      The tolerance options only apply to decimal numbers! For instance, if the question's answer is 10, we may set 10.0 as the correct answer so that the validation system takes into account the defined tolerance.

                      Exact answer

                      The student answer must be exactly equal to the correct answer. It corresponds to what we could call zero-tolerance.

                      For instance, if the correct answer is 12.345

                      Students answer Acceptance        
                      12.345       
                      12.34512.34512.3450       
                      12.3450000001       
                      12345/1000

                       Percent error

                      The student answer has an n% error margin with respect to the correct answer. An answer will be marked as correct if it satisfies

                      |ca-sa|/|ca|≤n·0.01

                      For instance, if the correct answer is 12.345

                      Percent error                    Interval of acceptance

                      10                                        [11.1105,13.5795]

                      1                                          [12.22155,12.46845]

                      0.1                                       [12.332655,12.357345]

                      0.01                                     [12.3437655,12.3462345]

                      Absolute error

                      The student answer has a margin of error of n. An answer will be marked as correct if it satisfies

                      |ca-sa|≤n

                      For instance, if the correct answer is 12.345

                      Absolute error Interval of acceptance
                      1 [11.345,13.345]
                      0.1 [12.245,12.445]
                      0.01 [12.335,12.355]
                      0.001 [12.344,12.346]

                      Significant figures

                      Check that the first n significant figures of student and correct answers are identical. An answer will be marked as correct if it satisfies

                      trunc(ca·10m)=trunc(sa·10m) where m is such that 10n-1≤ca·10m<10n, and trunc is the truncation function.

                      For instance, if the correct answer is 19.586

                      Student Answer
                      Decimal places 20.01 19.6 19.59 19.58
                      1
                      2
                      3
                      4

                      Decimal places

                      Check that the first n decimal places of student and correct answers are identical. An answer will be marked as correct if it satisfies

                      trunc(ca·10n)=trunc(sa·10n)

                      where trunc is the truncation function. For instance, if the correct answer is 19.586

                      Student Answer

                      Decimal places 19.6 19.59 19.587 19.586

                      Student Answer
                      Decimal places 20.01 19.6 19.59 19.58
                      1
                      2
                      3

                       

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                      Tolerance

                      Caution Exact answer Percent error Absolute error Significant figures Decimal places

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