Question

I am confused by the heisenberg uncertainty principle. In class, if we had the position as 3.2 +/- 0.2m, we would say that the uncertainty in position is 0.2m. However, if we had a problem that said the position was between 3.0 and 3.4m, we would say that the uncertainty in the position is 0.4m. What gives? Shouldn't the uncertainty of the positions in the two problems be the same?

Answer 1

In order to know the value precisely the more general and exact way is by use of uncertainty denoted with the symbol (Read as plus or minus). the above value 3.2 0.2m is an expression of uncertainty. If the problem have a value between 3.0 and 3.4 and the best estimate of the value is midrange at 3.2. We could write the number as 3.2 0.2m.

But 0.4m cannot be considered as uncertainty in position but it is said as RANGE

Range = Maximum value - Minimum value