Distance is a numerical description of how far apart objects are. In physics or everyday discussion, distance may refer to a physical length, or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two counties over"). In mathematics, a distance function or metric is a generalization of the concept of physical distance. A metric is a function that behaves according to a specific set of rules, and provides a concrete way of describing what it means for elements of some space to be "close to" or "far away from" each other. In most cases, "distance from A to B" is interchangeable with "distance between B and A".
Read more about Distance: Distance Versus Directed Distance and Displacement, Other "distances"
Other articles related to "distance, distances":
... radar return signal is proportional to the inverse fourth-power of the distance ... where an object appears on the sky, but cannot measure the distance accurately at all ... Radar, on the other hand, directly measures the distance to the object (and how fast it is changing) ...
... or energy statistics, are functions of distances between statistical observations ... Mahalanobis distance is used in statistics ... Hamming distance and Lee distance are used in coding theory ...
... There are three common long distance running events in track and field competitions 3000 metres, 5000 metres and 10,000 metres ... The 3000 m was historically used as a women's long distance event, entering the World Championship programme in 1983 and Olympic programme in 1984, but this was abandoned in favour of a women's ... In terms of competition rules and physical demands, long distance track races have much in common with middle distance races, except that pacing, stamina ...
... Further information Middle distance track event The most common middle distance track events are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle distance ... The 880 yard run, or half mile, was the forebear of the 800 m distance and it has its roots in competitions in the United Kingdom in the 1830s ... Physiologically, these middle distance events demand that athletes have good aerobic and anaerobic energy producing systems, and also that they have strong speed endurance ...
... sets up the fixed relationship between the field of view and the working distance ... Working distance is the distance between the back of the lens and the target object ...
Famous quotes containing the word distance:
“For time is the longest distance between two places.”
—Tennessee Williams (1914–1983)
“Midway the lake we took on board two manly-looking middle-aged men.... I talked with one of them, telling him that I had come all this distance partly to see where the white pine, the Eastern stuff of which our houses are built, grew, but that on this and a previous excursion into another part of Maine I had found it a scarce tree; and I asked him where I must look for it. With a smile, he answered that he could hardly tell me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Though there were numerous vessels at this great distance in the horizon on every side, yet the vast spaces between them, like the spaces between the stars,—far as they were distant from us, so were they from one another,—nay, some were twice as far from each other as from us,—impressed us with a sense of the immensity of the ocean, the “unfruitful ocean,” as it has been called, and we could see what proportion man and his works bear to the globe.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)