It\'s possible to guess the answer even without knowing anything about error analysis. \r\n\r\nThere should be nothing special about the equation F = ma, so a priori, there should be no restriction on m or a being negative. However, the standard deviation is always positive. With these two observations we eliminate A, B and E:\r\n\r\nA is eliminated because if m or a are negative, then F (=ma) is negative. However option A is always positive, so sigma_F/F = [something positive] -> sigma_F must be negative, something that\'s not possible.\r\n\r\nB is eliminated because if both a and m are negative, then we have a negative number within the square root and the standard deviation can\'t be imaginary.\r\n\r\nE is eliminated because if m is negative and really large, while a is positive and really small, then the second term dominates the first and we have a positive sum. But F (=ma) is again negative, so sigma_F is again negative, and that is impossible.\r\n\r\nThat leaves C and D. Now we can use another observation: if we can measure either m or a with infinite precision, then its standard deviation would be zero. However because of the other variable, we do not know F with infinite precision, and therefore sigma_F is not zero. Plugging in this condition eliminates D, leaving C as the only possible answer.