What does precision refer to when making measurements?

Precision relates to the degree of agreement among multiple measurements of the same quantity. It is a measure of the consistency or repeatability of the measurements taken under the same conditions. When a set of measurements yields similar results, it indicates high precision, regardless of how close those measurements are to the true or accepted value.

In practical terms, if you were to measure the same object several times and the results are very close to each other, but may not necessarily align with the true value, that indicates precision. For example, if you measure the length of a table multiple times and get results of 100.1 cm, 100.2 cm, and 100.1 cm, your measurements are considered precise even if the actual length is 101 cm. This distinction between precision and accuracy is crucial in understanding measurement quality in various fields, including quality control and process analysis.