Accuracy is the human-made concept measuring the closeness of a measured, calculated, or stated value to the true or accepted value of a quantity. It is distinguished from precision: precision concerns the repeatability and granularity of measurement (the smallness of allowable variation), while accuracy concerns correctness relative to a reference standard. Accuracy is established through calibration against reference materials, traceable measurement chains, and the institutional framework of metrology that maintains and disseminates reference values. Its operation spans all scientific, engineering, commercial, and legal domains where quantitative claims must be verified against an agreed standard of truth.<br><br>[formal: accurate | substrate: mind | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
accuracy
Accuracy is the human-made concept measuring the closeness of a measured, calculated, or stated value to the true or accepted value of a quantity. It is distinguished from precision: precision concerns the repeatability and granularity of…
Definition
Why it is in scope
Accuracy is the human-made concept of closeness to truth — the degree to which a measured or stated value matches the true or accepted value of a quantity. It is built to persist through calibration standards, metrological practice, and the institutional framework of measurement science that defines, propagates, and disseminates reference values.
Names and aliases
- accuracyen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmr9uz3vv00elhcxfruyltnd4DEPENDS_ON →
Accuracy only operates within the framework of measurement — it is the concept of closeness between a measured value and the true value. Remove measurement as a concept and accuracy stops operating entirely, becoming meaningless. The removal test is decisive: no measurement framework, no accuracy.
- cmrwwb2v501k7soacy29a4dwsDEPENDS_ON →
Remove ground-truth (the true/correct reference standard) and accuracy as a concept stops operating: accuracy IS closeness to the true, so without a ground-truth there is no accuracy to speak of. Passes the removal test of Law 8.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 29, 2026, 2:06 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 1d71dde20472080a6b6ce0c67eb99906d999dd4a4286c587b1c013254fa61019