A decibel (dB ) is a way to express a ratio.

Most practical uses of decibels are measuring some thing in relation to some other thing. A negative number of decibels indicates that the thing being measured is less than the reference thing. Let's consider as an example dBm a unit that measures a power p relative to !m" . #hus$ % dB &!'log !' (p !m" ) (o !m" is$ !'log !' (!m" !m" )&!'log !' (!)&'dBm "hat about !''m" ) !'log !' (!''m" !m" )&!'log !' (!'')&*'dBm "hat about *+" ) !'log !' (*+" !m" )&!'log !' ('.''*),-*..//dBm "hen we are considering something li0e voltage it's customary to consider the ratio of the squares of the values because power is proportional to the s1uare of amplitude. 2or example !3 on a !4 load is (!3) * 5!4&!" but if the voltage is *3 then (*3) * 5!4&6" . 7 thin0 this is a screwy convention and if you want your measurements expressed in decibels to be li0e power then you should measure power. But it's the convention and you can probably blame the engineers who developed the telephone networ0. Anyway let's consider dB3 example with !3 $ which uses !3 as the reference. 8ere's an

!'log !' ((!3) * (!3) * )&*'log !' (!3 !3 )&*'log !' (!)&'dB3 9otice that rather than s1uaring both voltages in the fraction we can multiply the logarithm by *. #he two are mathematically e1uivalent but multiplying by * is easier than s1uaring. *'log !' (!*'3 !3 )&*'log !' (!*'),6!.:;dB3 *'log !' (<m3 !3 )&*'log !' ('.''<),-:'.6=dB3

7f we are tal0ing about an amplitude level such as voltage then the formula is *' > log!'(3sig53ref) rather than !' > log!'(3sig53ref). (o for example !''3 is 6'dB3 not *'dB3. #he !' > log!' is for power 1uantities so !''m" in dBm would be *'dBm. ? @li Alaser Ban !< at !=$'6 C@liAlaser right you are. Ddited. ? %hil 2rost Ban !< at !;$6< #here's a typo in the *E" formula (s535"5) F 7'd fix it but third party edits need to be at least . characters. ? %aul G Ban !< at *!$'. up vote < down vote #he level for something li0e a sine wave is generally given as the GM( (Goot Mean (1uare) value which (for a sine wave) is '.='= of the pea0 value. 2or example *6'3AH mains voltage is actually (!5'.='=) > *6'3 & <6'3 pea0 to pea0 F the GM( is used as this is the e1uivalent of the IH value power wise (i.e. *6'3IH would provide the same power as <6'3AH p0Fp0) (ince the GM( value is usually assumed if you mean pea0 tp pea0 you should write e.g. *6'3AH p0Fp0 if the highest pont is J5F *6'3 9egative amplitude means the signal is attenuated relative to a reference point so if you see e.g. F*'dB it means the signal is !5!'th of the reference value. dB on it's own is unitless so you will see things li0e dBm (relative to !m" K 'dB & !m") or dB3 (relative to !3 K 'dB & !3) (o if you see F<dB3 this means the level is '.='= > !3 & '.='=3 and F*'dB3 would be '.!3. (imilarly *'dB3 would mean !'3. (7n the below calculations log!' refers to the base !' logarithm as opposed to the natural logarithm or e.g. log* for base * logarithm) #he calculation for dB is *' > log!'(signal5ref) so for the above$ *' > log!'(!'5!) & *'dB3 2or the '.='= case$ *' > log!'('.='=) & F<dB3

!m3 in dB3 would be$ *' > log!'('.''!5!) & F.'dB3 2or measurements of power the calculation is$ !' > log!'(powerLlevel5refLpowerLlevel) so for example !''" in dB" would be$ !' > log!'(!''5!) & *'dB" (o a negative amplitude means a reduction in amplitude relative to a reference point. (ee the "i0ipedia page on Iecibels. shareMimprove this answer edited Ban !< at !.$!:

#echnically that's negative log amplitude the amplitude itself is still positive. But in common usage you're right. ? Brian Irummond Ban !< at !*$'6 NAmplitude in something li0e a sine wave is generally given as the GM( (Goot Mean (1uare) valueN F couldn't this be misleading) Honsider a sine wave Oero offset *3p0p0. #he amplitude of this signal is !3 the GM( value is '.=3. 7t's clear where you're heading when you continue on to dB but amplitude and GM( are not necessarily the same thing. 9ot saying you're wrong but it really depends a lot on the context and someone could confuse amplitude and GM(. Maybe level would be better than amplitude) ? Oebonaut Ban !< at !*$!/ COebonaut F fair point 7 will alter the wording to NlevelN. ? @li Alaser Ban !< at !*$<6 CBrian F yes the amplitude is always positive so the 1uestion confused me initially (which is why 7 as0ed about dB) whether it was about the negative swing or the amplitude in reference to something. After the comment5edit to 1uestion it appears the confusion is over negative dB values. ? @li Alaser Ban !< at !*$</

up vote ' down vote #he 1uestion is a little unclear to me $ but if you mean how is amplitude measured or defined while the signal is below '3 then remember the difference between speed and velocity $ amplitude (li0e speed) is a magnitude and is either Oero or positive. #he signal (li0e velocity) is a vector $ velocity is defined by speed and directionP signal (restricting the discussion to cosines for the moment) is defined by amplitude and phase. #hus the negative pea0 F3 of the signal is defined as amplitude 3 and phase %i (or !;' degrees). More complex signals can be represented as a sum of different cosine waves with different fre1uencies amplitude and phases the 2ourier transform is a techni1ue for translating an arbitrary waveform into such a representation (and bac0 again)

up vote ' down vote Iecibels describe the ratio of signal strengths according to how many factors of ten a new signal (such as some circuit's output) is compared to the original or some standard reference signal. "hen the output is smaller than the input you'll have to divide by some factors of ten FF the same as multiplying by !5!' which is (!')Q(F!). #hus negative decibels. 7n the illustration the big signal is an input to some gadget and 7 made up the value !:.'3 for its pea0 (from Oero) amplitude. 2or a sine the GM( voltage is !5s1rt(*) of the pea0 amplitude. #he pea0FtoFpea0 is double. #he second sine wave has a smaller amplitude. 7f we imagine applying these sine waves to a simple load (the resistor) currents will flow in proportion to the voltages. %ower is voltage times current so the smaller signal's power (heating the resistor) is ('.6)Q* of the original's power. #his power ratio is what engineers usually care about. Dngineers being fond of slide rules and easy math use base ten logarithms for a lot of things. A chain of amplifiers and lossy filters can be dealt with more easily by adding logarithms of gains and losses instead of multiplying the gains and loss factors. A factor of !' is one NBelN but since we're often dealing with fractional 1uantities li0e '.< Bel (a doubling of power) for ages we've been using decibels to shift that decimal point over.

9ote that dB always (usually) refer to power and not voltages. 9ote also that it doesn't matter if we use pea0 amplitude pea0FtoFpea0 or GM( as long as we're consistent measuring the input and output the same way.

up vote ' down vote Rero decibels means unity gain or no change in signal level because !' ' &! . Iecibels are usually some relative measure li0e output related to input.%ositive decibel values are increases in signal level (amplification) and negative decibel values are decreases (attenuation).

7 recently created a panel where some 0nobs are labeled as going from -S to ' decibels with a gradation of negatively valued tic0s in between. #his reflects the fact that the 0nob is a linear potentiometer which attenuates the input signal. -S means that the signal is completely trimmed to Oero and ' means that the full signal is passed through. #he midpoint is mar0ed -. because the voltage is cut in half. 3oltage cut in half means power is reduced to a 1uarter which is about six decibels down$ *'Tlog !' ('.:) . #here exist scales of measure in which decibels are associated with some absolute level. 7n those scales Oero decibels will refer to a specific absolute voltage or wattage or other 1uantity. 2or example in the dBm scale ' dB is one milliwatt. 7n the dBu scale Oero decibels is '.==: 3GM(. Gegarding -S dB$ that's a bit of an abuse of notation that appears on instrumentation which everyone understands. Logarithms are not defined for Oero but grow large as their argument approaches Oero from above. @f course infinity is not a number and a Oero signal has no defined decibel value. 7 wouldn't consider the -S as an abuse of notation any worse than the S mar0 on camera focus dial. Basically it mar0s a limiting case. @n a lens with a !''mm focal length if the subUect is at distance d from the lens the film should be distance !5(!5(!''mm)F!5d). 7f one wanted to mar0 the lens for !'m !''m !0m !'0m and !''0m the mar0s for the larger distances would be so close that resolving a focal distance to even within an order of magnitude would be tough. (imply using a S mar0 is clearer. ? supercat Ban !; at *$6'