Study of diode rectifier circuits

Hi there!
Recently we had an experiment regarding diode rectification. we constructed two circuits - one for half wave rectification and another for bridge rectification. For both CKT we used 1k-ohm resistance and ac source of 10V p-p and 100Hz. We took readings for 3 cases -

1. for 1k-ohm resistance only
2. 1k-ohm resistance and 1microF capacitor (parallel connection)
3. 1k-ohm resistance and 47microF capacitor (parallel connection)

For half wave rectifier ckt we used multimeter to took AC and DC input voltage reading for the three cases above. The results are -

AC:
1. 4.32V
2. 3.56V
3. 3.22V

DC:
1. 0.57V
2. 0.57V
3. 0.88V

for bridge rectifier ckt we took readings of AC and DC output voltage using multimeter. Readings are -

AC:
1. 1.2V
2. 0.87V
3. 0.03V

DC:
1. 1.75V
2. 1.80V
3. 2.02V

Now we are supposed to find out the effective and average value of the load voltage for half wave and bridge rectifier ckt with only 1k-ohm resistance and compare the result with the multimeter readings.
Secondly, to find out the ripple factors of the two ckt for each of the three cases and compare with the ideal values.
Then, find out which capacitor acts as better filter.
Lastly, advantages and disadvantages of the full wave center tapped and bridge rectifier ckt.

Now, I am facing problems to solve these questions because we still haven't studied diode rectification in theory. We have this portion in our course syllabus but our teacher has started with other topic and we have yet to learn these things.

Could anyone please help me solve these problems? I searched through the net and found that I need output voltage to calculate effective and average value of load voltage but we noted down only input voltage with multimeter because we were asked to do so. Even if I use input voltage to calculate these values, they are very different from the multimeter readings. Could anyone please explain why this is so?

I don't have the slightest bit of idea about ripple factor, I tried to read from books but came across a lot of things I don't understand. What is the ideal value of ripple factor? In the internet somewhere it's written 0 and somewhere it is 1.57. I can't figure out which one's correct.

Other two questions are also out of my knowledge. I have to submit report on this expt. the day after tomorrow. I am trying to find out the answers but I thought any kind of assistance from the forum might help me understand it better since the time's really short and this topic is really new to me and Electrical and Electronics Engineering is not my major.

Any kind of help will be appreciated. Thank you for reading it.