What is the meaning of an angle, size or shape?

Question

We often use the word angle to mean two different things. First, we use it to mean the something like a “corner” formed by two lines meeting. Second, we use it to mean a measure of how “far apart” the two lines are from being the same line, or in other words, how large the corner is.

In the first instance, when we say angle we mean a shape, in the second instance, we mean a number. This is a little confusing,. How can we clarify this situation? Thank you!

Answer 1

The meaning should be clear from context, and it probably is not worth trying for anything better. After all, this is a very common situation with other words.

• An area can be a region ("the area behind the building is used as a playground") or the size of a region ("this playground will have area $100\,{\rm m}^2$"). $\ $
• Population can be people ("the whole population supported this policy") or the number of people ("the population of the country is $23$ million").