The first time I was in school for electrical engineering (long story), I had a professor who had never worked in the industry. I was in her class and the topic of the day was measuring AC waveforms.

A few months ago a personal computer trade magazine reviewed surge voltage protective power strips for home use. The article offered an explanation of what “120 volts RMS” power (what we typically ...

If you mostly deal with DC current, you might not think much of root mean square or RMS measurements. Sure, you’ve seen meters that have “true RMS” settings, but what does it mean? If you don’t know — ...