longlength

Longlength is a term used in measurement theory and applied sciences to denote the maximum linear extent of an object along any direction within a defined coordinate system. It is often described as the object's longest dimension or major axis, and is distinct from width or height when the object is elongated. The concept is used across disciplines such as geometry, computer graphics, botany, and material science to quantify how elongated a shape or specimen is.

In geometry and computer science, longlength can be defined as the diameter of the object's point set: the greatest distance between any two points of the object. For practical computation, especially with complex shapes, the distance is often approximated as the maximum distance between points on the object's convex hull, which can be found efficiently with rotating calipers.

In practice, longlength serves as a feature for shape analysis, bounding box generation, collision detection, and object classification. It complements other dimensions such as width and height, and its interpretation may vary depending on the coordinate frame and application. In botany and materials testing, longlength describes how slender or elongated a specimen is, aiding comparisons among similarly sized items.

History and terminology: While the term longlength is not universally standardized, it has appeared in discussions of elongated shapes and dimensional analysis as a descriptive alternative to "length" in contexts where no single canonical orientation exists. Related concepts include diameter, major axis, principal axis, and bounding box length.