If scientists overestimate the average stellar mass by 25% in a galaxy, how does this error propagate to the final star count estimate?
Answer
The resulting star count will be 25% too low.
If the average mass used in the division step is higher than reality (e.g., $0.4$ instead of $0.3$ solar masses), the resulting star count derived from dividing the total mass will be proportionally too low, leading to a significant error when scaled up to cosmic totals.
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