A law that describes how the strength of a force (e.g. gravitation) or a flow of energy (e.g. light) weakens with distance from the source. According to the inverse-square law, the magnitude of a given quantity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. For example, if an object’s distance were doubled, the strength of the light or gravity from it would fall by four times; if its distance were tripled, the strength of its light or gravity would be nine times less.