Question 317405: for solids : Is it always that the length of a solid figure longer than the width?
Answer by Theo(13342)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! I believe it is a convention for a 2 dimensional object, and certainly might start out that way, but once you start playing with the size of the dimensions, it could turn out that the length becomes shorter than the width and there is not, or should not be, a problem with that happening.
This is especially true if you are dealing with algorithms that demand a variable be defined as the length and another variable be defined as the width.
You might start out with the length being greater than the width, but you might then result in the width being greater than the length.
You do not change the name of the variables just because that happened.
Assume I tell you that a rectangle is 4 feet long and 3 feet wide.
I then ask you what is the perimeter?
You might say, let x = the length and y = the width, and the perimeter is then equal to 2*x + 2*y = 2*4 + 2*3 = 8 + 6 = 14
If I then ask you what happens if you divide the length into 2, you would then say, the perimeter is 2*4/2 + 2*3 = 8/4 + 6 = 4 + 6 = 10
You did not say "well, the length was 4 and the width was 3, but now the length is 3 and the width is 2".
You stayed with the same variable names assigned to the same dimension and manipulated it according to the requirements of the problem.
This is especially true if the problem is being solved by computer. Keeping the name of the dimensions consistent regardless of what happens to their size is extremely important.
So, yes, you would normally associate the length with the greater dimension, but you can wind up with the length being the lesser dimension and this is not inconsistent with the fact that you still call it the length.
My personal belief is that the length, width, height, depth are whatever you define them as and, as long as you are being consistent as to which dimension of the object you are referring to, there should be no problem.
That said, you will see definitions of length being the longer dimension.
That is general true by convention, but it is not a hard and fast rule.
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