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Decibel

The decibel (symbol: dB) is a unit of measurement used to express the ratio of one value of a physical property to another on a logarithmic scale. It can be used to express a change in value (e.g., +1 dB or −1 dB) or an absolute value. In the latter case, it expresses the ratio of a value to a reference value; when used in this way, the decibel symbol should be appended with a suffix that indicates the reference value, or some other property. For example, if the reference value is 1 volt, then the suffix is "V" (e.g., "20 dBV"), and if the reference value is one milliwatt, then the suffix is "m" (e.g., "20 dBm").There are two different scales used when expressing a ratio in decibels depending on the nature of the quantities: power and field (root-power). When… more »