Dictionary · Calibration
Metrological comparability of measurement results
Comparability of results traceable to the same reference — what shared traceability buys: results that can be meaningfully compared even from different labs and methods.
Related terms
More from Calibration
Calibration curve
The expression of the relation between indication and corresponding measured quantity value established by calibration — the diagram's central line, without the uncertainty strip.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 4.31
Calibration hierarchy
The sequence of calibrations from a stated reference to the final measuring system, each calibration depending on the previous one; uncertainty necessarily grows down the chain.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.40
Calibration
The operation that, under specified conditions, first establishes a relation between values (with uncertainties) provided by measurement standards and corresponding indications (with uncertainties), and second uses that information to obtain results from indications. Calibration is not adjustment.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.39
Zero adjustment of a measuring system
Adjustment so that the system provides a null indication corresponding to a zero value of the quantity to be measured.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 3.12
Verification
Provision of objective evidence that a given item fulfils specified requirements — e.g. that an instrument performs within its maximum permissible errors. A pass/fail attestation, distinct from calibration.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.44
Calibration diagram
A graphical expression of the relation between indication and corresponding measurement result, showing the strip of estimated uncertainty around the relation.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 4.30