Gross Error

In our everyday life, errors keep happening all the time. So, it is very much important for a person to minimise the errors while experimenting and doing something important. Errors can be of many types, be it random, systematic, gross, observational, environment, constant and whatnot. This article is mostly focused on the topic of gross error. The first part describes what is a gross error, the second part refers to the causes of the instances of gross error and the last part focuses on the elimination of the gross error. Also, some real-life examples make this easy to understand in every aspect.

What is Gross error

Gross error definition entirely lies in the gross blunder of the observer or the gross blunder of the part of a certain experiment. These errors are caused by the observer while using instruments, recording data and calculating some kind of measurement results of an experiment. So it is considered a human error. Gross errors are those kinds of errors that lie neither in random nor in systematic categories. These kinds of errors usually occur specifically, from imperfection in human behaviour to various equipment failures. 

Gross error Causes

As gross error is human error, most of the error lies in the wrong or careless behaviour of the individual. Some of the major instances of the tendency of happening gross error are listed below:

• Let’s take a person reading a pressure gauge indicating 1.02 N/m2 as 1.20 N/m2. This is one such example that defines what is a gross error as while calculating further we are going to find a huge change in the practical implementation.

• Many people have a bad habit of memorising data during a time of reading and with the help of that try to write with that memorised data which eventually leads to gross error in the data. Thus there is a sheer possibility of deviating results.

• The gross error also happens while recording wrong observations or calculating the final results of any experiment. Due to this, error-prone reported data is considered fact leading to huge mistakes. Only a stable and calm individual with proper mental alertness can do these without any gross error.

• Another gross error arises when an experimenter makes use of the instrument without setting it properly and also reading data without even thinking of the constraints and precautions. This is often happening in our daily school lives where careless students of any classes could be a part of this kind of activities sometimes or the other.

• Blunders which are more likely to be an extension of gross errors tend to be caused by reading and writing wrong information or forgetting some crucial data. This type of error happens when any personal checks over the work of someone else, thus having another person overlook the work of someone else should reduce the possibility that the wrongly considered information will end up in the final analysis of the data.

Ways to Eliminate Gross error

From all the observations we can see that the gross error is purely dependent on the user and his discretion and carefulness. So, the gross error can be minimised whenever the observer would be careful and mentally alert. It’s more of a user-dependent error minimising process. Also increasing the number of experiments will also definitely help us. If an experimenter takes different readings for different times, the average of all the readings can lead to minimising the gross error overall. For these proper experimenting facilities, a good amount of patience, and a free mind with proper care are highly required from the individual.

Conclusion

Gross error is one of the types of fundamental errors for which we have to come up with a minimised error-prone environment for the user as it’s more of a user-dependent process. So, we should remove personal bias, and increase the number of experiments as far as possible. In our everyday life, errors keep happening all the time. So, it is very much important for a person to minimise the errors while experimenting. This is one of the primary conditions we must check before doing any of the tests. Gross errors are bound to happen but a calm and composed individual can surely overcome these errors.