What is the difference between tolerance limits and prediction limits?
Tolerance limits provide coverage of a percentage of the total distribution of measurements (e.g., 95%) with a certain degree of confidence (e.g., 95%). Prediction limits provide coverage of 100% of the next k measurements with a given level of confidence (e.g., 95%). With 95% coverage, tolerance limits should be exceeded by 5% of the measurements with 95% confidence whereas prediction limits should fail for none of the next k measurements with 95% confidence.
