Resultant magnetic field

The resultant magnetic field is computed as the length of the vector sum, or the square root of the sum of the squares, of the three axis components (X, Y, and Z) of the magnetic field.

Because each axis is measured independently, no information is available on the phase relationship between the axes. Therefore, it is possible that one axis is at a maximum in its oscillation while another axis is at a minimum. Consequently, the resultant may be an over estimation of the actual maximum instantaneous magnetic field as it oscillates. In the worst case, with circular polarization, the computed resultant will exceed the actual maximum field by approximately 40 percent. The lower bound on the instantaneos maximum field of any particular measurement depends on the magnitudes along the three axes. The upper bound is the square root of the sum of the squares of the components.