The term load factor has several meanings:

• In aerodynamics, the load factor, 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.

• In structural engineering, a load factor is a number by which a specified load is multiplied to determine the required design load. See also dead load, live load, resistance factor and structural design.
• In electrical engineering, a load factor is the average power divided by the peak power over a period of time. See also demand factor.
• In commercial aviation, load factor is the ratio of paid passenger seats to the total seating capacity of a particular flight.
• In computer science, a load factor is the ratio of the number of records to the number of addresses or indexes within a data structure. See hash table.