Frequency / Period Converter

Frequency and Period

Frequency and period are reciprocals of one another. Frequency (f) measures how many complete cycles occur per second — its SI unit is the hertz (Hz), equal to one cycle per second. Period (T) is the duration of one complete cycle. The relationship is:

T = 1 / f  |  f = 1 / T

For example, mains electricity in the UK runs at 50 Hz — one complete AC cycle every 20 ms. A CPU running at 3 GHz completes one clock cycle every ≈ 333 ps.

Common Frequency Ranges

• Audio: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Mains power: 50 Hz (EU/UK) / 60 Hz (USA)
• Microcontroller clock: 8 MHz – 240 MHz
• Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz band: 2.4 – 2.5 GHz
• Wi-Fi 5 GHz band: 5.0 – 5.9 GHz
• CPU clock speeds: 1 – 5 GHz

Applications

Engineers use frequency-to-period conversion when configuring timer registers in microcontrollers (where period in microseconds maps directly to timer counts), when designing PWM signals, when interpreting oscilloscope measurements, and when calculating the cutoff frequency of RC and LC filter circuits. This converter automatically selects the most readable unit for the result.