The length of wooden beams being sawed is measured by a line operator. Which is least likely to be influenced by the instrument?

Question

Options

• ACalibration of the instrument
• BActual temperature of the liquid
• CRecording the measurement
• DReading of the instrument

• A
  14% (9)
• B
  6% (4)
• C
  76% (48)
• D
  3% (2)

Explanation

Recording the measurement (C) is a purely human clerical action - the operator writes down or enters a number after observing the instrument's display. The instrument has no role in whether that transcription is accurate or inaccurate; this error source belongs entirely to the operator, not the tool.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (Calibration) is an intrinsic property of the instrument itself - a miscalibrated ruler directly skews every reading it produces.
• B (Actual temperature of the liquid) is a property of the measured object/environment, but the instrument (e.g., through contact pressure or thermal expansion of its own components) can still affect or interact with the measured value.
• D (Reading the instrument) depends heavily on the instrument's scale resolution, display clarity, and graduations - all instrument characteristics.

Memory tip: Think of it as a chain - Instrument → Reading → Recording. The instrument's influence ends at the reading step. By the time the operator picks up a pen to record that number, the instrument is out of the picture. If you can sever the instrument from the step, it's the least-influenced one.

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