TheAlgorithms/Java · error · IllegalArgumentException

Width must be greater than 0

Error message

Width must be greater than 0

What it means

Thrown by Area.surfaceAreaCuboid when the 'width' argument is <= 0. It fires only after length passes its guard (length > 0) but before height is checked, so it specifically indicates a non-positive width with a valid length.

Source

Thrown at src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/maths/Area.java:51

            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Side length must be greater than 0");
        }
        return 6 * sideLength * sideLength;
    }

    /**
     * Calculate the surface area of a cuboid.
     *
     * @param length length of the cuboid
     * @param width width of the cuboid
     * @param height height of the cuboid
     * @return surface area of given cuboid
     */
    public static double surfaceAreaCuboid(final double length, double width, double height) {
        if (length <= 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Length must be greater than 0");
        }
        if (width <= 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Width must be greater than 0");
        }
        if (height <= 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Height must be greater than 0");
        }
        return 2 * (length * width + length * height + width * height);
    }

    /**
     * Calculate the surface area of a sphere.
     *
     * @param radius radius of sphere
     * @return surface area of given sphere
     */
    public static double surfaceAreaSphere(final double radius) {
        if (radius <= 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(POSITIVE_RADIUS);
        }
        return 4 * Math.PI * radius * radius;

View on GitHub (pinned to fdfb9a395b)

Solutions

1. Pass width > 0 as the second argument: surfaceAreaCuboid(2, 3, 4).
2. Validate the full dimension set before the call to get one consolidated error.
3. Confirm the argument order matches the signature (length, width, height).

Example fix

// before
double a = Area.surfaceAreaCuboid(l, w, h);
// after
if (w <= 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("width must be > 0");
double a = Area.surfaceAreaCuboid(l, w, h);

if (width <= 0) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("cuboid width must be > 0");
}
double a = Area.surfaceAreaCuboid(length, width, height);

static boolean isPositiveDimension(double d) {
    return d > 0 && Double.isFinite(d);
}

try {
    double a = Area.surfaceAreaCuboid(l, w, h);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("Width")) { /* width offender */ }
}

When it happens

Trigger: surfaceAreaCuboid(2, 0, 2); surfaceAreaCuboid(2, -3, 4); a valid length paired with a zero/negative width.

Common situations: Dimensions loaded from different sources where width came in as 0 or negative; column-vs-row index mix-up producing a 0 width.

Related errors

• Side length must be greater than 0
• Length must be greater than 0
• Height must be greater than 0
• Radius must be greater than 0
• slant height must be greater than 0

AI-assisted analysis of TheAlgorithms/Java@fdfb9a395b (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1b6b472df214a9d8. Report an issue: GitHub.