Errors of Observation and Their Treatment, J. Topping, Chapman & Hall (1972)

One of the earliest books I remember looking at when I was a freshman at University College Cardiff.  The edition that I have in front of me is the 1972 fourth edition and is a 1985 reprint.  Thus, this is the edition that I originally looked at when learning about error propagation.  A short book at 118 pages, but I prefer it to the now standard An Introduction to Error Analysis by J.R. Taylor.  Topping's book and the similar book by N.C. Barford cover more ground in far less space.  There is much to be said for older books - many of which are around 100 pages in length.  There are newer, longer books, but they don't necessarily improve on the content of the older shorter books.

This book, for me always brings to mind Dr. Ray Hine, who ran the Part 1 labs when I was a freshman in Physics at University College, Cardiff in 1975.  He said, on occasion, that he wanted to make sure that he left the mark of the Physics Department on us as we went forward in life.  In my case, he certainly succeeded, I will never forget his teaching, and his teaching influences mine down to this very day.

Thus this book may not mean as much to you as it does to me, but if you want to learn about error propagation in calculations, this is an excellent place to start.  The fourth edition is still the current edition.  There are many used copies out there, and the Science Paperbacks series was well made.