If something is like 20'' by 5'' which one is the length?

Question

If something is 20'' by 5'' is 20" the length or is 5" the length?

Answer 1

Traditionally the longer side is considered the Length while the shorter side is considered the Width.

Answer 2

People tend to use length, first,
followed by width,
then followed by depth or height
(i.e., L x W x D or H).

It has nothing to do with which side is longer.

The "LWD" method, if you will, is a way of making things consistent and easier to comprehend between people. It is up to the person doing the measuring to decide which is the length.

Here's an example: say that you're an architect, and somebody told you to design a building measuring 300' x 100' x 50', but didn't tell you which was the length, width, or height. So, you went ahead and presumed that 300 feet was the length (hey, it's the longest side, so, why not?), 100 feet was the width, and 50 feet was the height (about 6 stories high). You presented the drawing to the requester, who screamed, "Idiot!!! The land is only 100' long by 50' wide! You overshot the length by 200 feet!!!" Of course, all the other dimensions were wrong, as well! Too bad it wasn't a perfect cube, eh? ;)

Okay, that was a silly example; no professional in their right mind would accept numbers without their corresponding dimensions! But, now you see that you can't rely on the longest dimension being the length. Of course, there could be a problem of interpretation, because some people might think of height as length! However, that is extremely rare, and, for most folks, would be considered incorrect (furniture makers and retailers typically make "width" the first measurement, for obvious reasons (how many times have you measured the width of a doorway to make sure the furniture will fit through! Who cares about the length, right?), but, it is always clearly marked as such, so, even if they write "5 w x 10 L x 3 h", you can see which dimension is which.

Therefore, in your example,
20 would be the length followed by a width of 5.

Answer 3

Usually the longer number is the length so 20" would be it.

In some kinds of situations like maybe a skinny slice 5" thick cut with a chainsaw from a 20" wide tree stump the usual rules would not apply because it would be obvious the grain is running along the smaller dimension so there the 5" is the length..

Answer 4

Usually the longer measurement is the length.

However if we were looking at a picture hanging on a wal that was 5'' wide and 20" high we wouldn't even refer to length, just width and height.

All depends on how you view something.

Answer 5

well, it should always be length x width... in this case, since 20 is the first measurement, it is going to be the length

Answer 6

20" would be the length


length x width

Answer 7

either one will be the length but if there is a diagram I think it is different

Answer 8

either one.