Shape factor may refer to one of number of values in physics, engineering, or image analysis. Typically, a shape factor refers to a value that is affected by an object's shape but is independent of its dimensions.
In physics:
- Shape factor, or shaping factor, a performance measure for filters such as band-pass filters
- Shape factor of crystallites, a term in the Scherrer equation used in X-ray diffraction
- The view factor in the field of radiative heat transfer
In engineering:
- Shape factor (boundary layer flow)
- Structural indices derived from falling weight deflectometer data
In image analysis:
- Shape factor (image analysis and microscopy) including:
- The compactness measure of a shape
Famous quotes containing the words shape and/or factor:
“Surely among a rich man’s flowering lawns,
Amid the rustle of his planted hills,
Life overflows without ambitious pains;
And rains down life until the basin spills,
And mounts more dizzy high the more it rains
As though to choose whatever shape it wills....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)