Pi Attenuator Calculator

A Pi Attenuator Calculator is a tool used to design a pi attenuator — a type of resistive network used in electronics and RF (radio frequency) circuits to reduce signal strength without distorting the waveform. It's called a "pi" attenuator because the resistor configuration looks like the Greek letter π.

The calculator helps determine the values of the three resistors in the pi-shaped network based on:

Desired attenuation (in decibels, dB) — how much you want to reduce the signal.
Input and output impedance — typically matched for consistent signal transfer (like 50Ω or 75Ω).
A typical pi attenuator circuit looks like this:

Where:

R1 = Resistors on the input and output sides.
R2 = Resistor connected to the ground.
The Pi Attenuator Calculator computes these resistor values based on the formulas for power and impedance matching — making sure the attenuator works without causing reflections or signal loss beyond what's intended.