Formfactor
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of various calculations representing the shape or distribution of a physical property within a microsystem such as an elementary particle or atomic nucleus.
"This electromagnetic structure caused by the cloud of virtual states in the transition region is characterized by a specific formfactor, which is called the transition formfactor."
- 2 The value of 4π * area / perimeter², used to measure how well an irregular shape approximates an idealized regular shape, and used to estimate surface area of irregular shapes.
"the surface area of the ellipsoid fitted to the measured length and breadth is divided by the formfactor to estimate the surface area of the irregular object"
- 3 The ratio of energy radiating out from one patch to the energy absorbed by another patch, used in the calculation of radiosity.
"The formfactor between patches defines the fraction of energy (light) leaving a patch which arrives at the other. The formfactor has proven to be the most computationally expensive part of the radiosity computation for complex environments. The formfactor is purely a function of the geometric relationship between patches, and thus does not depend on viewer position or reflectivity attributes (color) of the surfaces."
- 4 An industry standard that represents the size and shape of a circuit board.
"In the case of embedded RTP systems the most difficult constraint lies in the area of system formfactor limitations ."
Example
More examples"This electromagnetic structure caused by the cloud of virtual states in the transition region is characterized by a specific formfactor, which is called the transition formfactor."
Etymology
From form + factor.
More for "formfactor"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.