A number used as a measure of diesel fuels that represents the percentage of hexadecane (i.e. cetane) in a mixture with 1-methylnaphthalene that has the same ignition characteristics as a diesel fuel being tested in a standard diesel engine. It is therefore an indication of the ease of self-ignition. The cetane index is a number calculated from the average boiling point and the density of a petroleum fraction in the diesel fuel boiling range, which estimates the cetane number of the fraction.