Rotmiddelkvadrat

Rotmiddelkvadrat, often abbreviated as RMS, is a statistical measure used to quantify the magnitude of a varying quantity. It is particularly useful for averaging fluctuating values, such as alternating current voltage or signal amplitude. The RMS value is calculated by taking the square root of the mean of the squares of the values. Mathematically, for a set of n values x1, x2, ..., xn, the RMS value is given by the formula: RMS = sqrt((x1^2 + x2^2 + ... + xn^2) / n).

This method of averaging is not a simple arithmetic mean. Instead, it gives more weight to larger values because they are squared before being averaged. This property makes RMS a valuable tool in fields like electrical engineering, where it represents the equivalent DC voltage that would produce the same amount of power dissipation in a resistive load. For a sinusoidal waveform, the RMS value is approximately 0.707 times its peak value. The concept is also applied in signal processing and mechanical vibrations to describe the overall amplitude of complex or irregular waveforms.