Abstract: A magnetic pole position in a synchronous motor having salient poles is estimated from an instructed voltage applied to the motor, a current generated from the instructed voltage and parameters. To estimate the position substantially matching with a true magnetic pole position, a phase matching voltage having a phase matching with the estimated magnetic pole position previously obtained is applied to the motor. The phase matching voltage has a harmonic frequency higher than that of the instructed voltage. A phase matching current generated from the phase matching voltage is detected from the motor. A value of at least one of the parameters is corrected such that a difference in phase between the phase matching voltage and the phase matching current substantially becomes zero. An estimated magnetic pole position is calculated from the instructed voltage, the generated current and the parameter having the corrected value.