Editing Accuracy and precision (section)

=={{visible anchor|ISO definition (ISO 5725)|ISO_Definition_.28ISO_5725.29}}==
A shift in the meaning of these terms appeared with the publication of the ISO 5725 series of standards in 1994, which is also reflected in the 2008 issue of the BIPM [[International Vocabulary of Metrology]] (VIM), items 2.13 and 2.14.<ref name="metrology_terms"/>

According to ISO 5725-1,<ref name="iso5725">BS ISO 5725-1: "Accuracy (trueness and precision) of measurement methods and results - Part 1: General principles and definitions.", p.1 (1994)</ref> the general term "accuracy" is used to describe the closeness of a measurement to the true value. When the term is applied to sets of measurements of the same [[measurand]], it involves a component of random error and a component of systematic error. In this case trueness is the closeness of the mean of a set of measurement results to the actual (true) value, that is the systematic error, and precision is the closeness of agreement among a set of results, that is the random error.

ISO 5725-1 and VIM also avoid the use of the term "[[Bias (statistics)|bias]]", previously specified in BS 5497-1,<ref>BS 5497-1: "Precision of test methods. Guide for the determination of repeatability and reproducibility for a standard test method." (1979)</ref> because it has different connotations outside the fields of science and engineering, as in medicine and law.

{{Gallery
|title=Accuracy of a [[Grouping (firearms)|target grouping]] according to BIPM and ISO 5725
|width=150 
|align=center
| File:High accuracy Low precision.svg|Low accuracy due to low precision <!-- Note that the use of "high accuracy" in  the filename is not in accord with the ISO 52725 terminology that is illustrated here! -->
| File:High precision Low accuracy.svg|Low accuracy even with high precision}}