Talk:distance

What is universal in astronomical unit? Astronomical unit is not absolute and not constant in contrast to, say, atomic unit.

Poszwa, 2004-01-11 13:44 UTC

Definition
This entry doesn't give the definition of distance. It doesn't give the distance formula. Blackbombchu (talk) 01:04, 15 April 2014 (UTC)
 * This entry gives 9 different definitions of distance. They may not be mathematically rigorous enough for you, but they're definitely definitions. I'm not saying we shouldn't have a mathematical definition, but there's more to English than mathematics- this is a dictionary, not a mathematics textbook. Also, an encyclopedia entry such as Distance is a better place to put explanations of mathematical concepts, for the most part, since it doesn't have the limitations of space and format that a dictionary has. Our mission is to tell people what a word means in actual usage, not to educate people on the subject it refers to. Chuck Entz (talk) 03:22, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

at a distance
1. From a far way away. ''At a distance, it doesn't look like much. But when you get closer, it's quite spectacular.'' 2. With a level of separation or detachment. It was so nice to meet the artist in person after admiring his work at a distance for so long. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/at+a+distance Backinstadiums (talk) 19:03, 6 November 2022 (UTC)