Enter your systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure in mmHg to calculate your MAP (mean arterial pressure) and pulse pressure.

## MAP Formula

Blood pressure is often used as a measure of one’s health. While not the sole factor in heart health, high blood pressure is linked to many heart conditions. Keeping your blood pressure low is one way to keep your heart healthy. To reduce blood pressure you can reduce salt intake and exercise more.

The following formula is used to calculate the mean arterial blood pressure:

MAP = 1/3 * SBP + 2/3 * DBP

• Where MAP is mean arterial pressure
• SBP is systolic blood pressure
• DBP is diastolic blood pressure

As can be seen from the formula, the relationship is not a 1:1 ratio of SBP to DBP. The blood pressures are all measure in units of mmHg.

## MAP Definition

MAP stands for mean arterial pressure, or sometimes referred to as mean arterial blood pressure. In short, it’s exactly what it sounds like it is. It’s the mean pressure of blood flow throughout the arteries of a human body. The MAP is based on systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. The relationship can be seen in the formula below.

In the medical field, the MAP is always used to communicate heart rate. Instead, doctors often present the blood pressure as a ratio of systolic to diastolic blood pressure. For example, 120 over 80 represent as 120/80.

## How to calculate MAP

The following example is a step-by-step guide on how to calculate MAP.

1. First, the formula above needs to be analyzed to determine what missing variables need to be measured or determined. By looking at the equation you can see that both the SBP and DBP are required.
2. The next step is to measure the SBP. This is typically done with a medical device. For this example, we will assume the SBP to be 120mmHG.
3. Next, the DBP must be determined. As we did previously, we are going to assume blood pressure is known. We will assume the value to be 60mmHG.
4. Finally, enter all of the information gathered above into the formula. So the MAP = 1/3 * 120 + 2/3* 60 = 40 + 40 = 80mmhg.
5. Analyze the results to see if this answer makes logical sense, i.e. is this a normal blood pressure for a human.

## FAQ

What is MAP?

MAP is the mean pressure of blood flow throughout the arteries of a human body.

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