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Numerical Tolerance

Numerical tolerance determines how close your students' answers must be to the answer key to be counted as correct. Overriding numerical tolerance is not recommended.

How-ToInstructor HelpWebAssign

Precedence of tolerance settings

Numerical tolerance can be set in the following places in WebAssign and are applied in the following precedence order.

Tolerance setting

Description

Per-question assignment setting

  • Overrides all other tolerances
  • Applies to every part of the question

Assignment setting

  • Overrides tolerance settings listed below

Class setting

  • Overrides tolerance settings listed below

Question code

  • Overrides default tolerance
  • If needed, textbook questions set tolerances for the question or specific question parts—for example, math questions requiring simple integer computation or fractions set a tolerance of 0
  • If needed for symbolic mode questions, tolerance must be set in the question code

Default

If no other tolerance is set, WebAssign uses a default tolerance of ±2%.

Override tolerance for assignment question

These settings are not available for all questions.

  1. In the Assignment Editor, expand the Questions section, then expand the question.

  2. Click Points adjustment.

  3. Select Override numerical tolerance.

  4. Set Answers are correct if within ± to a percentage from 0 to 100.

  5. Click Save at the top of the assignment.

Override tolerance for assignment

These settings apply only to questions where number tolerance can be adjusted. Some question types are not affected by number tolerance settings.

  1. In the Assignment Editor, expand Settings › Scoring › Advanced Settings.

  2. Select Override numerical tolerance.

  3. Set Answers are correct if within ± to a percentage from 0 to 100.

  4. Save customized settings as a template to reuse on other assignments.

    1. Under Settings, click Save as New Template.

      This is only shown if you have changed settings from the default.

    2. Enter your template name.

    3. Click Save Template.

  5. Click Save at the top of the assignment.

Override tolerance for class section

These settings apply only to questions where number tolerance can be adjusted. Some question types are not affected by number tolerance settings.

  1. Open the Class Settings page.

    From My Classes, click Edit Class Settings.

  2. In the Class Settings page, click Advanced Options.

  3. For Tolerance under Numerical Options, type a non-negative number and select either % or units.

  4. Click Save.