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Cycle A portion of a waveform contained in one period of time.
Effective value The equivalent dc value of any alternating
voltage or current.
Electrodynamometer meters Instruments that can measure
both ac and dc quantities without a change in internal circuitry.
Frequency ( f ) The number of cycles of a periodic waveform
that occur in 1 second.
Frequency counter An instrument that will provide a digital
display of the frequency or period of a periodic time-varying
signal.
Instantaneous value The magnitude of a waveform at any
instant of time, denoted by lowercase letters.
Oscilloscope An instrument that will display, through the use
of a cathode-ray tube, the characteristics of a time-varying
signal.
Peak amplitude The maximum value of a waveform as measured
from its average, or mean, value, denoted by uppercase
letters.
Peak-to-peak value The magnitude of the total swing of
a signal from positive to negative peaks. The sum of the
absolute values of the positive and negative peak values.
GLOSSARY ⏐⏐⏐ 573
Peak value The maximum value of a waveform, denoted by
uppercase letters.
Period (T ) The time interval between successive repetitions
of a periodic waveform.
Periodic waveform A waveform that continually repeats
itself after a defined time interval.
Phase relationship An indication of which of two waveforms
leads or lags the other, and by how many degrees or
radians.
Radian (rad) A unit of measure used to define a particular
segment of a circle. One radian is approximately equal to
57.3°; 2p rad are equal to 360°.
Root-mean-square (rms) value The root-mean-square or
effective value of a waveform.
Sinusoidal ac waveform An alternating waveform of unique
characteristics that oscillates with equal amplitude above
and below a given axis.
VOM A multimeter with the capability to measure resistance
and both ac and dc levels of current and voltage.
Waveform The path traced by a quantity, plotted as a function
of some variable such as position, time, degrees, temperature,
and so on.