RMS and Average Calculator

It's surprising to many people to find that line voltage is not really 115 Volts peak but is really around 160Vpk. The 115V is an RMS voltage. RMS stands for Root Mean Square. RMS is a tool which allows us to use the DC power equations, namely: P=IV=I*I/R, with AC waveforms, and still have everything work out. It's calculated by taking one cycle of a periodic waveform and squaring it, and finding the square root of the area under the curve. RMS is calculated differently for each periodic waveform.

In the table, we use the units of Volts, however, the formulas work with any units.

Waveform Type Formula for RMS Formula for Avg
Sine wave Vrms= Vpk/sqrt(2) Vavg= 0
Full rectified wave Vrms= Vpk/sqrt(2) Vavg= 0.637Vpk
Half rectified wave Vrms= Vpk/2 Vavg= 0.318Vpk
Sine wave with DC offset Vrms= *sqrt(Vdc2+Vpk2/2) Vavg= Vdc
Half sine with duration T and frequency f Vrms= Vpk*sqrt(f*T/2) Vavg= 2f*T*Vpk/PI
Positive square wave with duration T and frequency f Vrms= Vpk*sqrt(f*T) Vavg= f*T*Vpk
Saw tooth wave with duration T and frequency f Vrms= Vpk*sqrt(f*T/3) Vavg= f*T*Vpk/2
Trapezoidal wave with frequency f, top segment T, and base segment B. Vrms= Vpk*sqrt(f*((B-T)+3*T)/3) Vavg= f*Vpk*((T+B)/2)

This calculator will compute the RMS and average for some of the most common periodic waveforms.

Vpk (or other unit)
Type
Frequency F
Duration T
Base Segment B of Trapazoid
Vdc
Vrms (or other unit)
Vavg
Daily average RFQ Vo
1500+ Daily average RFQ Vo
Standard Product Unit
20,000.000 Standard Product Unit
Worldwide Manufacturers
1800+ Worldwide Manufacturers
In-stock Warehouse
15,000+ In-stock Warehouse
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