# How accurate are the counterweight scales typically found in Drs office?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-are-the-counterweight-scales-typically-found-in-drs-office/947478>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 28, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-are-the-counterweight-scales-typically-found-in-drs-office/947478 "2021-07-28T02:34:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-are-the-counterweight-scales-typically-found-in-drs-office/947478/24 "2022-06-15T16:12:51Z")

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> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> A slope of 2% is typical for garage floors, but that’s not the magnitude of the resulting measurement error.
> 
> The normal force measured by the scale varies with the cosine of the slope angle. A 1:48 slope is 1.19 degrees, the cosine of which is 0.99978. So a scale placed on a sloped garage floor would be expected to read low (due to said slope) by 0.0217%

Yeah, tried to do it on my head using small angle approximation but hosed it up real good.

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