Seeking Official Definition for Shape Length and Shape Area Fields

patrmckinn@pa.gov_PADOH

I am looking for an official definition of the shape length and shape area fields from an Esri documentation site.

I have not been able to find this, though Esri's AI chatbot provided an answer (without a source).

My database-centric colleagues need a definition for a data modeling project. 

The datasets are polygon.

I appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Patrick 

VinceAngelo

The length and area columns are often wrong, or useless, so it's quite possible you won't find what you're looking for.

"Internally calculated Cartesian value that should not be trusted for any real-world purpose" would suffice for both length and area.

- V