"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new"  -  Unknown

Objective

The purpose of this assignment is twofold. First, you will get a chance to review estimating errors for measuring a distance; and second, you will get a chance to review your understanding of significant figures.

You must hand in the cover sheet for the assignment and your sollutions on engineering paper.

Problems

1. The sides of a closed figure have been measured and found to have a total length of 3,264.76 ft. If the error in the measurements is estimated to be 0.17 ft., what is the precision of the work? Hint: Remember the rules for significant figures.

2. An error of ±0.005 ft. is estimated for each of the 28 length measurements.

   1. Estimate the total error?  

   2. Estimate total error if the error is ±0.008 ft. per length.

3. Estimate the total error if the estimated error per 100 ft. is ±0.04 ft. and the measurements are 511.33, 726.32, 954.86, and 1,410.11 ft.

4. A surveying crew or party can tape distances with an estimated error of ±0.014 ft. for each 100-ft. distance. Estimated total error if a distance of 4,200 ft. is measured?

5. It is desired to tape a distance of 1,600 ft. with an estimated total error of not more than ±0.025 ft.  

   1. How accurately should each 100-ft. distance be measured so that the permissible value is not exceeded?

   2. How accurately should each 100-ft. distance be measured so that the estimated total error would not exceed ±0.18 ft. in a total distance of 2,500 ft.?

6. The 18 interior angles of a polygon are being measured with a theodolite. Specifications require that the estimated total error may not exceed ±60 seconds. How accurately must each angle be measured? 

7. The "exact" measurements of a steel tape are 100 ft. long, 1/40 in. thick, and 5/16 in. wide. If steel weighs 490.0 lb./ft.³, how much does this tape weigh?

8. It is desired to determine the height of a church steeple. Assuming that the ground is level, a 500.00 ft. length is measured out from the base of the steeple, and an 36° 30' 15" vertical angle is determined from that point on the ground to the top of the steeple. How tall is the steeple?

9. What is the total area in acres of three sections of land that are measured as: 11.0 acres, 5.23 acres, 150,123.0 ft.²?

Cover sheet for homework

This website was originally developed by Charles Camp for CIVL 1101.
This site is Maintained by the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Memphis.
Your comments and questions are welcomed.