We investigate systematic uncertainties in determining the profiles of the
solar sound speed, density, and adiabatic index using helioseismological te
chniques. We find that rms uncertainties (averaged over the Sun) of similar
to 0.02%-0.04% are contributed to the sound-speed profile by each of three
sources: (1) the choice of assumed reference model, (2) the width of the i
nversion kernel, and (3) the measurement errors. The rms agreement between
the standard solar model sound speeds and the best helioseismological deter
minations is about 0.07%. The profile of the adiabatic index, Gamma(1), is
determined to an accuracy of about 0.02% with the Michelson Doppler Imager
(MDI) data set. The density profile is about an order of magnitude less wel
l determined by the helioseismological measurements. Five state-of-the-art
models, each with a significant difference in the input physics or a parame
ter choice, all give comparably good agreement with global helioseismologic
al measurements. We consider four deficient solar models that are construct
ed either using old input data, assuming the He-3 + He-4 fusion reaction do
es not occur, neglecting element diffusion, or artificially mixing the inte
rior of the Sun. When used as reference models in the inversion process, th
ese deficient models yield sound speeds for the Sun that differ only by 0.1
% from the sound speeds obtained using the standard model. We conclude that
even relatively crude reference models yield reasonably accurate solar par
ameters. Although acceptable for most purposes as reference models, nonstan
dard solar models in which the core is artificially mixed or in which eleme
nt diffusion is neglected are strongly disfavored by the p-mode oscillation
data. These nonstandard models produce sound-speed profiles with respect t
o the Sun that are 4.5 and 18 times worse, respectively, than the agreement
obtained with the standard solar model.