A method and apparatus for determining quantization error in data is disclosed. The method comprises gathering a plurality of data points, identifying a range of the data points, separating the data points into a plurality of segments, and estimating the quantization error by calculating the ratio between the data range and the quantity of segments. The apparatus comprises means for gathering a plurality of data points, means for identifying a range of the data points, means for separating the data points into a plurality of segments, and means estimating the quantization error by calculating the ratio between the range and the quantity of the segments.