Concept guide
Uncertainty
Also used: measurement uncertainty · uncertainty set
Incomplete knowledge about a quantity, process or outcome. It may be represented by a probability model, a set of possibilities or a stated qualitative limitation.
An example from the writing
The stress-test article uses a declared deterministic parameter box, with no probability distribution attached to it.
A common misconception
Every uncertainty interval is a confidence interval, and sample frequencies automatically estimate real-world risk.
That inference does not follow. Read the result together with its scope below.
Scope and limits
The certificate bounds one synthetic mathematical maximum. Its parameter box is not a measured operating envelope, and its fixed hit counts establish no general miss probability or reactor-safety claim. Measurement uncertainty is a more specific metrological term.
Reference sources
The explanations are editorial paraphrases of the sources below. Read domain-specific terminology together with the conditions in its original source.
- SROCC Glossary — UncertaintyIPCC (2019)
- VIM 2.26 — measurement uncertaintyJCGM/BIPM