Difference Between Length and Height

Length vs Height

Determining the length and height of an object may be a little confusing for some who did not have a clear grasp of the concept of geometry. Length, by custom, is referred to as the longest line or side of an object. For a parallelogram, an object with parallel sides (i.e. a rectangle), the length is its longest line. It describes how long an object is. This description, though, may become confusing when you change the position of the rectangle such as when you make it lie on the horizontal surface using its longest side. In this sense, the original height became its length while its original length became its height.

In the case of a square, the length is any of its sides because no side is longer or smaller than another. It is also convenient to say that length is the lateral side of an object which is parallel to the surface or ground or the X plane in geometric graphical representations.

By contrast, height is a different measure because it is the vertical side of an object. It is, therefore, not parallel to the surface. Rather, it is parallel to the Y plane in the geometric graph. Being parallel to this plane enables the height to be perpendicular with the horizontal plane forming right angles. By its colloquial interpretation, this still holds true because the height is normally referred to as the floor-to-ceiling measurement of something. This, therefore, describes how tall an object is. In a practical application, describing how tall trees and buildings are requires you to know their respective heights.

Height can also refer, not only to how tall something is, but how high it is from the standard ground level. In the sky, for example, the plane’s height is usually interpreted as its altitude. If one will say that it is 1,000 meters above sea level, then the plane is 1,000 meters from the ground or from the level of the sea.

In another context, height and length differ because the height sort of measures the linear distance of an entire object or creature from its lowest point to its highest point while the length just measures one of its parts. A good example is when one would describe the length of the giraffe’s legs as opposed to its overall height. One can never describe it in terms of the height of its legs and the length of the zebra, which is more or less inappropriate.

Length and height are similar in the sense that they are all linear-type measurements. Hence, they almost have the same type of measuring units used no matter what system of measurement. For example, height and length can both be expressed in terms of feet, inches, meters, and many other more.

Summary:

1.Height refers to how tall an object is while length is how long.
2.Height can also refer to how high up an object is with respect to the ground level.
3.Length is customarily considered as the longest side or line of an object particularly among rectangle-shaped objects.
4.Length is parallel to the X plane while height is parallel to the Y plane.
5.Among squares, the length is any of its sides.

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