TypeScript - Chebyshev Distance function

In this short article, we would like to show how to calculate Chebyshev Distance using TypeScript.

In simple words: Chebyshev Distance is the maximal positive distance between corresponding coordinates.

Chebyshev Distance has applications in different fields, e.g. Artificial Intelligence.

A practical example in 2D:

const calculateChebyshevDistance = (a: number[], b: number[]): number => {
    if (a.length === 0 || a.length !== b.length) {
        return NaN;
    }
    let max = Math.abs(a[0] - b[0]);
    for (let i = 1; i < a.length; ++i) {
        const distance = Math.abs(a[i] - b[i]);
        if (distance > max) {
            max = distance;
        }
    }
    return max;
};


// Usage example:

const a: number[] = [2, 1];
const b: number[] = [3, 5];

const distance: number = calculateChebyshevDistance(a, b);

console.log(distance); // 4

Output:

4

More complicated examples

In this section, you can find Chebyshev Distance examples for 3D and 4D.

const calculateChebyshevDistance = (a: number[], b: number[]): number => {
    if (a.length === 0 || a.length !== b.length) {
        return NaN;
    }
    let max = Math.abs(a[0] - b[0]);
    for (let i = 1; i < a.length; ++i) {
        const distance = Math.abs(a[i] - b[i]);
        if (distance > max) {
            max = distance;
        }
    }
    return max;
};


// Usage example:

const a1: number[] = [1, 2, 3];
const b1: number[] = [5, 5, 5];

const distance1: number = calculateChebyshevDistance(a1, b1);

console.log(distance1); // 4

const a2: number[] = [1, 2, 3, 4];
const b2: number[] = [3, 4, 4, 3];

const distance2: number = calculateChebyshevDistance(a2, b2);

console.log(distance2); // 2

Output:

4
2

See also

1. JavaScript - Chebyshev Distance function

References

1. Chebyshev distance - Wikipedia