Purpose of “rows” when adding Long Text field

Question

When adding a Long Text field to a content type, I am asked to supply the number of rows for the field. What is the purpose of this?

This seems like it has something to do with how the data is stored in the database. At first I thought it was required because I was using a SQLite database that stores everything in a flat file, so I switched to a MySQL backend. However, the field is still required.

Answer 1

Rows control the height of your text area for editors. It does not change how the data is stored in the database.

Answer 2

Number of row will be display to end user at a time.