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Percent Error Calculator
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Compare a measured (experimental) value against the accepted (theoretical) value.
| Absolute Difference | 5 |
| Percent Error | 5% |
What Is Percent Error?
Percent error measures how far a measured or experimental value is from the true or theoretical value, expressed as a percentage. It's widely used in science labs to judge how accurate a measurement or experiment was compared to the accepted or expected result.
% Error = |Experimental − Theoretical| ÷ |Theoretical| × 100
The result is always reported as a positive percentage.
Reading the Result
A percent error close to 0% means the experimental value closely matches the theoretical value. Larger percentages point to bigger discrepancies, which could come from measurement error, equipment limitations, or an unaccounted-for variable in the experiment.