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Background:
A logarithmic scale is a scale of measurement that uses the logarithm of
a physical quantity instead of the quantity itself. It is used in conjunction with
units such as with Bel which a logarithmic unit of measurement that expresses
the magnitude of a physical quantity (power or intensity) relative to a
specified or implied reference level.
B = log (Power Ratio)
One may ask, if one dB is one tenth of a Bel, should the scaling factor in above
equation be 0.1 instead of 10? That is not correct though, because to achieve a
finer unit step we need to have a power ratio of 10:1 show as ten steps. Thus
we get the above equation.
• The decibel's logarithmic nature means that a very large range of ratios
can be represented by a convenient number, in a similar manner to
scientific notation. This allows one to clearly visualize huge changes of
some quantity.
• The mathematical properties of logarithms mean that the overall decibel
gain of a multi-component system (such as cascaded amplifiers) can be
calculated simply by summing the decibel gains of the individual
components, rather than needing to multiply amplification factors.