Nicholas Clark wrote: > I was thinking that the metric (x*x + y*y) would be fast to > calculate, as that's all we need for ordering.
Point is, it's rather *more* than we need for ordering. x + y will suffice. > And I live in London, where we don't have a regular grid of > streets, so our taxis don't do what yours do. :-) Actually this metric is commonly referred to as "Manhattan distance". You could look it up! > [And even if your taxis don't drive on a grid either, I suspect > that they don't drive on the left side of the road. And I'd hate > to hink what metric they use, And what happens in the presence of the infinities which occur at singularites (e.g. at the corner of 1st Street and 1st Avenue, the Nexus of the Universe) is anybody's guess. :-) -- John Douglas "Adams" Porter __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free http://sbc.yahoo.com
