What is "long line"

n. (context mathematics English) A particular topological space, constructed by stringing together an uncountable number of intervals, which is "longer" than the real line.

Long Line is the fourth solo album by Peter Wolf, released in 1996 (see 1996 in music).

In topology, the long line (or Alexandroff line) is a topological space somewhat similar to the real line, but in a certain way "longer". It behaves locally just like the real line, but has different large-scale properties (e.g., it is neither Lindelöf nor separable). Therefore, it serves as one of the basic counterexamples of topology. Intuitively, the usual real-number line consists of a countable number of line segments [0, 1) laid end-to-end, whereas the long line is constructed from an uncountable number of such segments.

In telephone systems nomenclature, a long line is a transmission line in a long-distance communications network such as carrier systems, microwave radio relay links, geosynchronous satellite links, underground cables, aerial cables and open wire, and Submarine communications cables. In the United States, some of this technology was spun off into the corporate entity known as AT&T Long Distance with the breakup of AT&T in 1984. Prior to then, the AT&T Long Lines division of the Bell System, which was what AT&T called itself when it was responsible for providing both long distance and local telephone service before the 1984 breakup, provided maintenance and installation of long line facilities for the Bell System's long distance service.