Accuracy and Precision in Measurements

What does it mean if William Tell's arrows consistently hit the same spot, but that spot is far away from the apple?

• High accuracy, low precision

• Low accuracy, high precision

• High accuracy, high precision

• Low accuracy, low precision

If William Tell's arrows hit all around the apple, sometimes hitting it and sometimes missing, but not in a consistent pattern, what does this show?

• High accuracy, low precision

• Low accuracy, high precision

• High accuracy, high precision

• Low accuracy, low precision

In scientific measurements, what does "accuracy" refer to?

• How close repeated measurements are to each other.

• How close a measurement is to the true or correct value.

• The number of significant figures in a measurement.

• The ability to get the same result every time.

How did NASA improve the precision of landing probes on Mars between the Viking mission in 1976 and the Curiosity mission in 2012?

• By using larger landing ellipses to increase the chance of hitting Mars.

• By relying solely on manual calculations by human scientists.

• By gathering new atmospheric data, improving spacecraft technology, and using more powerful computer simulations.

• By reducing the speed of the probes upon atmospheric entry.