BASIC MEASUREMENT 
  29 
Crest Factor Table 
 
Background 
Crest factor is the ratio of the peak signal amplitude to the 
RMS value of the signal. It determines the accuracy of  AC 
measurement. 
If the crest factor is less than 3.0, voltage measurement will 
not result in error due to dynamic range limitations at full 
scale. 
If the crest factor is more than 3.0, it usually indicates an 
abnormal waveform as seen from the below table. 
Waveform Shape  Crest factor 
Square wave