William Horwitz.
The Certainty of Uncertainty.
In Journal of AOAC International, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 109--111, 2003.

Links:

Abstract:

The Horwitz formula will tell you if your anticipated uncertainty is such that you will be within the limits of the ballpark with a typical method. The maximum spread obtained by the top-down approach will encompass the "true value" in almost all practical cases. It is usually easier to let nature slip in all the unanticipatable tricks that can befall even the most careful ana- lysts than to valiantly attempt to foresee them beforehand by the budget ap- proach. This is how the uncertainty of the method becomes entangled with the uncertainty of the measurement.

Bibtex:

@Article{        horwitz:2003:TCOU,
  author = 	 {William Horwitz},
  title = 	 {The Certainty of Uncertainty},
  journal = 	 {Journal of AOAC International},
  year = 	 {2003},
  volume = 	 {86},
  number = 	 {1},
  pages = 	 {109--111},
}

References:

(1) Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. ISO, Geneva Switzerland.
(2) EURACHEM "Quantifying Uncertainty in Analytical Measurement" 2nd Edition (2000), http://www.measure- ment uncertainty.org.