Background errors in X-ray diffraction parameters

The measurement of every x-ray diffraction parameter involves acceptance of the background at an assumed level which is generally not the true level. Theoretical expressions for the errors caused by the acceptance of a wrong background in the measurement of integrated intensity, integral breadth, centroid, variance, fourth moment and Fourier coefficients of the intensity distribution in a given reflection, both for uniform as well as uniformly varying background levels, have been derived. A method has been developed for determining the true background level from multiple measurements of the integral breadth at several assumed background levels.