MaxDistance

MaxDistance is a term used across disciplines to denote an upper bound on the distance between two entities. As a parameter, it governs whether a pair of points, nodes, or objects are considered connected or related, depending on whether their distance is at most maxDistance. The exact meaning of distance may vary: Euclidean distance in continuous space, great-circle distance on a sphere, Manhattan distance on a grid, or a problem-specific metric.

In mathematics and geometry, a bound like maxDistance is often related to concepts such as radius and diameter; if applied from a fixed center, it defines a circle or sphere of influence. The maximum pairwise distance within a data set, if constrained by a maxDistance, influences connectivity and clustering properties.

In algorithms and data structures, maxDistance appears in clustering (as a threshold for neighbor relationships), in range queries, and in graph search or path planning as a limit on how far the algorithm should look. In coding libraries, you may see maxDistance used as a parameter that enables or disables processing for pairs beyond the bound.

In practical applications, choosing a distance metric and units is important. Performance considerations often favor comparing squared distances to avoid square roots, and many implementations allow configurable metrics and coordinate systems.

See also: distance, radius, diameter, distance metric, epsilon, nearest neighbor search, range query.