Glossary

Checking a probe or the scales of a measuring instrument against a standard.

Material constant indicating the degree of expansion of the material due to temperature rise.

Auxiliary equipment to fix the workpiece to the machine or measuring instrument, preventing it from shifting caused by machine motion or touch.

The amount of deviation between a real and an ideal form.

The resolution of a scale is the smallest unit length which can be determined using the scale. The smaller this value, the higher the resolution of the scale.

Short for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emmission of Radiation”. Highly energetic, almost punctiform light source.

Glass scale using the interference of a laser beam by diffraction at a holographic grating for measurement. A photosensor converts the diffraction pattern into an electric sine wave.

This parameter enables the comparability of different measuring instruments with regard to the quality of the determined measuring results.

A parameter assigned to a measured value, stating the uncertainty of the measured value – that means, the possible deviation between the determined dimension and the real dimension.

Statistical method to determine if a certain measuring instrument is suited for solving a specified measuring problem. The dispersion of the values measured by the measuring instrument must be relatively small in relation to the dimensional tolerance.

Statistical value; stating the extension in which the collected values scatter around the mean value.

Reference or master workpiece featuring a specified and known length or dimension.