What term describes how close a measurement is to a known standard?

The term that describes how close a measurement is to a known standard is accuracy. Accuracy refers to the degree of closeness of a measured value to the true or accepted value. For example, when taking measurements in engineering, being accurate means that the values obtained are near the true value that is established as a standard reference. This is crucial in various engineering applications, where precise measurements are necessary for design, manufacturing, and quality control.

In contrast, precision refers to the consistency of measurements, meaning how repeatable they are under the same conditions, regardless of whether those measurements are close to the true value. Calibration involves adjusting and checking the accuracy of instruments against known standards, while reliability refers to the ability of a system or measurement to perform consistently over time. Thus, while all these terms are important in engineering, only accuracy specifically addresses the closeness to a known standard.