What is frequency defined as?

• A. The time between successive cycles
• B. The number of cycles per second
• C. The peak voltage of a sine wave
• D. The duration of one half-cycle

Answer: (B)

Frequency tells you how often a repeating event occurs in a unit of time. For a periodic waveform, it’s the number of complete cycles that happen each second, measured in hertz. This ties to the period, which is the time for one full cycle, with f = 1/T. So a waveform that completes 50 cycles every second has a frequency of 50 Hz. The option that states frequency is the number of cycles per second is the accurate description. The time between successive cycles is the period, not frequency; the peak voltage describes amplitude; and the duration of one half-cycle is only half of the period, not the full cycles-per-second measure.