Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 1 / Section C / C8 / c / Solution

All four angle measurements have the same standard uncertainty, so ordinary least squares minimizesDifferentiation givesThus the unique minimum isThe overbars denote sample means over the four observations. Numerically,soThe fixed $x_i$ have negligible uncertainty. Assuming independent errors in the four $y_i$, propagation of uncertainty in quadrature givesHenceIf the period measurement is independent of the angle measurements, including its calibration uncertainty givesThis last uncertainty includes the stated random measurement errors only. Whether the model describes the data must be checked before treating it as a reliable measurement of the gravitational constant.