[ntp:questions] Fwd: Using ntpdate -b SERVER shortly after SERVER boots

Richard B. gilbert rgilbert88 at comcast.net
Tue Feb 13 17:11:33 UTC 2007


David J Taylor wrote:
> Uwe Klein wrote:
> 
>>Richard B. gilbert wrote:
> 
> []
> 
>>>That's an interesting article but it misuses the word "precision".
>>>Precision is a property of your clock and can be thought of as the
>>>smallest possible difference in time that the clock can measure.
>>
>>isn't that "resolution" ?
>>iananes ( i am not a native english speaker ;-)
>>
>>>A clock can have a precision of 1 microsecond and still be five
>>>minutes slow!
>>>
>>
>>uwe
> 
> 
> Uwe,
> 
> I suspect these terms mean what you choose them to mean.  Here is what 
> Google has to offer:
> 
>   http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SUNA_en___GB202&q=define%3a+precision
> 
> (includes both "number of digits" and "degree of refinement")
> 
>   http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SUNA_en___GB202&q=define%3A+resolution&btnG=Search
> 
> (includes "measure of accuracy or dynamic range of an A/D or D/A 
> converter" and "smallest quantity that can be measured").
> 
> From this, I would suggest:
> 
> precision - degree of correctness
> 
> resolution - accuracy of measurement
> 
> Perhaps NTP has its own definitions?

Indeed it does!  See RFC-1305 page 11.




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