Poll of the Day > Suppose you have a rectangle. Which side length is the width?

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://i.imgur.com/5yPV7k6.png

I must have these answers.
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I would need to know what the other term is.
I would always list the width second, and what I say would depend on the descriptor.
If I was supposed to say Length and Width then I would use 2 as the width.
If I was supposed to say Height and Width then I would use 1 as the width.
And you cant just leave it up to me, because if it were my choice, I would say length and height and not use width at all.

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it depends on how its oriented.

in that image, 1 is the width, 2 is the height

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In a perpendicular layout 1 (length of top or bottom) is always the width, generally with no exceptions.

I think what you're getting at is "Is the longer side ever the width"? No, the shorter side can be the width.

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2 is width, 1 is length
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The length is the long side

There is a consensus with programmers that the x length is always the width, and the y length is always the height. Nowhere in programming will you see Width and Length, and nowhere in programming will you ever see width = the shorter side. Because those definitions are inherently confusing and useless.

It doesn't make sense to define the width as the shortest side, then the reference would change as the rectangle changes size, or as you compare different rectangles. Compare the Width of this shape [] and this shape . There's no utility there. With this definition you can never compare the width of a longer and shorter side.

It doesn't make sense to define it as the y size as width with x size being length, because both of those are used to reference things that are horizontally measured, with width being exclusively horizontal.

You can do it the nonsensical way if you enjoy doing things the nonsensical way. Even Quora is going by the dictionary definition... a standard that follows subjectively instead of objectively setting the standard, as it should be in math. Don't be so open minded your brain falls out.

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https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/length

Definition 1a: the longer or longest dimension of an object

Yellow posted...

There is a consensus with programmers that the x length is always the width, and the y length is always the height. Nowhere in programming will you see Width and Length, and nowhere in programming will you ever see width = the shorter side. Because those definitions are inherently confusing and useless.

Yeah, what you do in practice in programming doesnt agree with English....and for good reason.

Yes, English is stupid. >:(

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Yellow posted...

There is a consensus with programmers that the x length is always the width, and the y length is always the height. Nowhere in programming will you see Width and Length, and nowhere in programming will you ever see width = the shorter side. Because those definitions are inherently confusing and useless.

It doesn't make sense to define the width as the shortest side, then the reference would change as the rectangle changes size, or as you compare different rectangles. Compare the Width of this shape [] and this shape . There's no utility there. With this definition you can never compare the width of a longer and shorter side.

It doesn't make sense to define it as the y size as width with x size being length, because both of those are used to reference things that are horizontally measured, with width being exclusively horizontal.

You can do it the nonsensical way if you enjoy doing things the nonsensical way. Even Quora is going by the dictionary definition... a standard that follows subjectively instead of objectively setting the standard, as it should be in math. Don't be so open minded your brain falls out.

So if I want to rock a programmer's world I show them a diamond...confirmed!

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Pretty sure that in 2-Dimensions, Width is the shorter of the two. Length is longer.

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Height is up and down, width is left to right. This is universal. In your picture, (1) is width.

It really only becomes a question if you have a rectangle which has been cut out and is handed to you, so you'd the one who has to hold it a specific way, thus determining which side IS up/down versus left/right. Though in that case I'd probably tend to always put the longer side as the width and the shorter side as the height, because that's how I tend to visualize rectangles (ie, wider than they are high).

It gets slightly more complicated when depth is brought into play and we're talking about physical objects in space, but that's not really a rectangle anymore anyway.
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The length side is the longer side no matter the orientation.

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Why would I want to make that useless distinction? All that matters is how the sides relate to each other. There are two sets of parallel sides, and four sets of perpendicular sides, and the perpendicular sides are the only ones that really matter.

And when it comes to simple geometry, there are only three dimensions: width (the horizontal axis), height (the vertical axis), and depth (the axis that represents distance from the viewer). Length isn't a discrete dimension; it's merely an abstraction of some other discrete dimension.

So, whoever is teaching about rectangles with "length" and "width" is a terrible teacher.

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me, I enjoy a good rhombus

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doesn't matter

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blu posted...

The length is the long side

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I always consider the shorter side the width, so 2.

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When I'm inputting canvas size for digital drawing, width is how long it is and length is how tall it is. So, I'd go with that...

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for grade school homework, length is the longer side.
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I was always taught that length is the longer side, though if its an object whose orientation is absolutely defined, width is horizontal and length is vertical (or parallel to my view for 3D objects, with the Z-axis being height).

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