How to Cope with Gauss’s Errors? Motivation for Teaching Data and Uncertainty Analysis from a History of Science Perspective

Abstract

Every measurement in science, every experimental decision, result and information drawn from it has to cope with something that has long been named by the term “error”. In fact, errors describe our limitations when it comes to experimental science and science looks back on a long tradition to cope with them. The widely known way to cope with them in nowadays classrooms and introductory laboratories is the so-called traditional “approach to error treatment” dated back by many to the ideas of Gauss. However, this is not exactly true, and as one digs deeper into the history of errors (or: uncertainty) one finds not only surprising stories about the treatment of data and uncertainty but also a lot to learn from for our today’s teaching. The treatment of error did not just appear out of the blue but evolved along side with the history of experimental science, a growing insight into data and sensitivity for its trustworthiness. Virtues that today’s learners are hoped to develop just the same.