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Question:


monneyman3
Student
High School - 12th Grade

How do you graph in four dimensions?

That is, for mathematical dimensions for things like hypercubes and hyperspheres... NOT the Einsteinian idea of Time being a fourth spatial dimention

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Posted by monneyman3 on Tuesday December 16, 2008 at 8:26 PM and tagged with four dimension, geometry, graph, math.

Answers:


  1. enotechris Teacher
    Vocational

    eNotes Editor

    Physically, it can't be done! For graphing purposes, however, create line segments at right angles to a 3D object:

    It is impossible (not unlikely or not yet possible, but impossible, actually shown to be never possible) to construct a higher dimension from a lower one.

    A quick way to grasp this impossibility is this. A straight line segment defines one dimension. Put another line segment perpendicular to this first line segment (getting something in the form of an L) and you have defined two dimensions (length and width). A third line, sticking out from the paper at a right angle, defines depth. Now, to define a fourth dimension of measurement (as we are talking of instantaneous occurrences, we ignore time measurements in our argument) take another line segment and put it at right angles to all of the other three. This will give you a fourth dimension. This is also quite impossible in our physical universe.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/short-story-criticism/lovecraft-h-p...

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    Posted by enotechris on Wednesday December 17, 2008 at 1:47 AM

  2. giorgiana1976
    giorgiana1976 Teacher
    Doctorate

    eNotes Editor

    So, let's try to explain it in order to everybody understands.

    Please, try this link! You'll see some pics and maybe it will become easier to understand.

    http://dna-view.com/triangle.htm 

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    Posted by giorgiana1976 on Friday December 19, 2008 at 4:25 AM

  3. netuser
    netuser Student
    High School - 12th Grade

    From another theoretical sense.  The fourth dimension would be time.  Therefore not on paper, or any current medium available, but if an extraordinary medium was invented, it may be possible to create a 3-D object with a time aspect, therefore making it 4-D (would a shifiting hologram be a 4-D graphic).

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    Posted by netuser on Tuesday December 23, 2008 at 2:30 PM