Calibration Curve Calculator Formula

Understand the math behind the calibration curve calculator. Each variable explained with a worked example.

Formulas Used

Unknown Concentration

concentration = (signal - intercept) / slope

Back-Calculated Signal

predicted_signal = slope * ((signal - intercept) / slope) + intercept

Variables

VariableDescriptionDefault
slopeCalibration Slope (m)2500
interceptCalibration Intercept (b)0.05
signalMeasured Signal (y)1.3

How It Works

Linear Calibration Curve

A calibration curve relates instrument signal to analyte concentration. With a linear model y = mx + b, an unknown concentration is found by inverting this relationship.

Formula

c_unknown = (y_measured - b) / m

where y is the measured signal, m is the slope from standard curve regression, and b is the y-intercept. The calibration curve should be established from at least 5 standard concentrations spanning the expected range.

Worked Example

A calibration with slope = 2500 (signal/M), intercept = 0.05, and measured signal = 1.3.

slope = 2500intercept = 0.05signal = 1.3
  1. 01c = (1.3 - 0.05) / 2500
  2. 02c = 1.25 / 2500 = 0.000500 M = 0.500 mM

Ready to run the numbers?

Open Calibration Curve Calculator