Hello, I had a question regarding the percent error formula. When I google the formula different formulas pop up either being [Experimental-Theoretical] / Theoretical * 100 or [Theoretical-Experimental] / Theoretical * 100.
Both are correct and it causes confusion as you just proved. Some want a positive number so if Exp is larger than theoretical that gives you a positive error (Exp-theo)/theo but (Theo-Exp)/theo is used when theoretical is a larger number. I don't do that. I use (|difference|/theoretical0*100 = ? By using the absolute difference I always get a + number. If, by chance, I'm interested in knowing if it is above or below I can add a + or a - sign to the answer depending upon the values involved.
