C# array length is all elements?

Question

I have just tried this example in the course on multidimensional arrays in C#:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace SoloLearn
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[, ] arr = {{2, 4, 7},{5, 5, 4}};

Console.WriteLine(arr.Length);

Console.WriteLine(arr.Rank);
}
}
}

And I am surprised that the length is 6 😱. How come? I was expecting 2.

If I wanted to print it as table, and keep it flexible so that it adjusts with changes in the array sizes, is it customary to use arr.Length/arr.Rank, or is there a better way?

Thank you 🤗💕

Answer 1

Yes, i suppose i was not very clear 🤔🤗 At first, I was only surprised, that the length is 6. In the lesson they wrote that a multidimensional array is really just one big block of elements. Maybe that is the reason? 🤔🤷

Then I wondered how to know what the array looks like. At first i thought that Rank solves the problem. Like you said. Length is 6, Rank is 2, so Length/Rank is 3, which is the number of elements in a row 🙂

But what if the Rank is 3? Or even higher? Then this kind of calculation starts to get difficult 😰 But now i just realised that it is worse! Because an array with three rows and two columns also has length 6 and rank 2! Just like the array with two rows and three columns.

I seem to lose necessary information about the structure 🤔😔