Combined measurements – A way to improve the measurement accuracy of an additive quantity

We show a way to take measurements of an additive quantity on several objects that gives the possibility to get considerably better accuracy of results than that one can get when the measurements are performed on particular objects one by one, when the same instrument is used in both cases. The theory of such measurements is described and the possible gain in accuracy derived. When n = 4–6 objects are to be measured, the uncertainty of combined measurement can be lowered by better than 2–4 times, respectively. Theoretical predictions were found to agree with both real and computer simulated measurements.

► Combined measurements improve accuracy when several objects are to be measured.
► Theory of combined measurements is derived and confronted with experimental results.
► For n = 4–6 objects accuracy can be improved ca. 2–4 times, respectively.