[Jprogramming] The word for arrays of rank > 2

[Alan Stebbens]

Wikipedia on Array is very broad ranging: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Array

Wikipedia on Array Data Structure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Array_data_structure contains a sentence about "three-dimensional", in the section on "Meaning of Dimension":

	"a three-dimensional array a block of data".  

However, the rest of the paragraph doesn't seem quite right. 

The Database and Data Warehouse usage of "cube" is referenced here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLAP_cube

OLAP cubes can be thought of as extensions to the two-dimensional array of a spreadsheet. For example a company might wish to analyze some financial data by product, by time-period, by city, by type of revenue and cost, and by comparing actual data with a budget. These additional methods of analyzing the data are known as dimensions.[3] Because there can be more than three dimensions in an OLAP system the term hypercube is sometimes used.

Wikipedia on Hypercube: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercube

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract

A generalization of the cube to dimensions greater than three is called a "hypercube", "n-cube" or "measure polytope". The tesseract is the four-dimensional hypercube, or 4-cube.

Alan


On Oct 23, 2011, at 7:10 PM, Henry Rich wrote:

> 'cube' was suggested.  Raul objected that a cube should have all axes of 
> equal length.
> 
> 'cuboid' has been used in Ye Dic (in the description of ;.0).  According 
> to Wikipedia a cuboid should have rank 3.  And the word seems strained.
> 
> 'hyperrectangle' is used, but it's a fifty-cent word for a ten-cent idea.
> 
> A fancier word is 'orthotope'.  Great if you're a Greek scholar.
> 
> Also, 'box', which would be perfect if we weren't using it already.
> 
> How about 'brick'? or 'block'?
> 
> I like 'brick', followed by 'cube'.