What is the precision of the measurement expressed to the nearest thousand?

In determining the precision of a measurement expressed to the nearest thousand, it's important to assess what this level of precision implies about the accuracy of the measurement process. When a measurement is rounded to the nearest thousand, it indicates a capability to discern differences in the order of one thousand units.

In numerical terms, this means that any measurement could vary by plus or minus 500 units from the reported value without affecting the round value. Therefore, the precision can be expressed as a fraction of the total range of the measured values.

To compute the precision, you may use the formula where the precision is taken as the inverse of the granularity of the measurement. When it is given that a measurement is expressed to the nearest thousand, the smallest meaningful difference that can be distinguished is 1,000 units. The range of possible values of measurement can be understood as extending 500 units in both directions from a central value of interest.

Thus, the overall number of distinguishable measurements becomes significant, and calculating the precision fraction yields 1/1,000, which corresponds to the options listed. Among the available choices, the choice of 1/106,000 provides the broadest measure when taken in the context of possible errors, equating to approximately