The word "length"
has several meanings (ex. the length of a word). We will focus on length in physical meaning
in this article.
The definition of length:LENGTH is
the physical measure of distance between two points (according to measurements in the Euclidian space - so linear). The distance itself can be measured as a straight line, but also as a length of a curve.
The meaning of "length" could be equal to one of the following:
- distance - most common: description of how far apart objects are. In strictly physical meaning - the length of way the object moves (possibly not the shortest way connecting two points)
- displacement - the length of shortest possible way connecting two points
- height - mostly in a vertical size of an object (like how "tall" it is)
- altitude - when talking about how far in the air the object is (ex. how high is the airplane)
Typically the symbol of length is L
. Base unit is 1 meter
. Length cannot be negative.
Length is measure of one dimension. However there is also area
for 2 dimensions (length squared) and volume
for 3 dimensions.