magnitude

In mathematics, the magnitude or size of a mathematical object is a property which determines whether the object is larger or smaller than other objects of the same kind. More formally, an object's magnitude is the displayed result of an ordering (or ranking) of the class of objects to which it belongs. In physics, magnitude can be defined as quantity or distance. History The Greeks distinguished between several types of magnitude, including: Positive fractions Line segments (ordered by length) Plane figures (ordered by area) Solids (ordered by volume) Angles (ordered by angular magnitude) They proved that the first two could not be the same, or even isomorphic systems of magnitude. They did not consider negative magnitudes to be meaningful, and magnitude is still primarily used in contexts in which zero is either the smallest size or less than all possible sizes.