Load factor

Load factor may refer to:

• Capacity factor, the ratio of the actual output of a power plant over a period of time and its output if it had operated a full capacity of that time period
• Load factor (aerodynamics), n, is the vector expressed by the ratio of the resulting mass force acting on an aircraft and the weight of the aircraft, $n=(W+Fi)/|W|=(g+a)/g=1+a/g$ where W is the weight of the aircraft and Fi is the inertia force
• Load factor (aviation), the ratio of paid passenger seats to the total seating capacity of a particular flight
• Load factor (computer science), the ratio of the number of records to the number of addresses or indexes within a data structure, see hash table
• Load factor (electrical) is the average power divided by the peak power over a period of time, see demand factor
• Load factor (structural) is a number by which a specified load is multiplied to determine the required design load, see dead load, live load and structural design