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Post by stubedoo on Mar 11, 2005 20:44:45 GMT -5
When I was a kid I started thinking about extra dimensions and what they would look like. I would try to visualize what a higher dimension would look like and I would go through a thought process something like this:
If you can draw a line around a point with equal radius you make a circle.
If you draw a plane around a line with equal radius you make a cylinder.
It stands to reason, that in a 4th dimention you should be able to draw a space around a line with equal radius.
Obviously, we can't visualize that, but I used to wrack my brain around problems like that. I read up on hyperspheres and hypercubes, but they always would have some sort of two or three dimentional representation of a 4th dimentional object.
I thought about wierd things as a kid.
Anyways, I was mentioning this to a buddy who is as geeky as I and he said, "Have you read Flatland?"
I enjoyed the brilliant mathematical representations in it, but I enjoyed, even more, the use of those representations to poke fun at Victorian society.
Max, I hadn't thought of it, but you're right. There are certainly societies where women are treated precisely as they are treated in that book and how there are strict social classes. How interesting for you to read that book and be able to put it to a society that you are intimately familiar with.
Stubedoo
What can you draw around a plane? Well
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Post by MaxQuad on Mar 11, 2005 20:55:16 GMT -5
I enjoyed the brilliant mathematical representations in it, but I enjoyed, even more, the use of those representations to poke fun at Victorian society. The perceptual issues interested me more. Interesting, eh? Maybe it was because I knew the Victorian satire was there - but the perceptual issues were a pleasant surprise? Stu, loved your description of your thinking as a kid. Definitely not run of the mill ponderings by a young boy. Somehow my mind didn't work that way. I was preoccupied with more mundane issues - like why I couldn't hit worth a damn in little league. MQ
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Post by stubedoo on Mar 11, 2005 23:41:01 GMT -5
Stu I was preoccupied with more mundane issues - like why I couldn't hit worth a damn in little league. MQ Well, I never wondered why I couldn't hit in little league. I sucked.
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Post by stubedoo on Mar 12, 2005 1:36:01 GMT -5
I just realized that I badly misspelled the words "dimension" and "dimensional". That must have been painful to read. Sorry about that. I'm a better speller than that--I was watching a basketball game.
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Post by Shutter Girl on Mar 12, 2005 19:39:05 GMT -5
I'm glad you guys are enjoying discussing Flatlands --- that's what it's all about, right? Unfortunately, my copy just came in for me today, ergo, I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. But that's ok, you guys continue on ahead, I don't mind! I think you'll enjoy Drop City, Max. You might want to kill some of these jackass characters by the end --- I think TC did a great job with character development and setting in this one. He really makes you feel like you're there... for better or worse.
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Post by stubedoo on Mar 13, 2005 16:33:24 GMT -5
Here is another interesting site I found that describes what a 4th dimensional cube looks like--called a hypercube. It's hard to visualize when you're looking at it as it's a 2 dimensional representation of a 4th dimensional object www.mathematische-basteleien.de/hypercube.htmBut basically, if you take a point and move it, it turns into a line. If you take the line and move it it turns into a square, with 4 lines. If you take the square and move it it turns into a cube with 6 sides. If you take the cube and move it in the 4th dimension, it turns into a "hypercube" with sides of 8 cubes--all the lines equidistant from the others.
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Post by MaxQuad on Mar 13, 2005 19:46:59 GMT -5
Here is another interesting site I found that describes what a 4th dimensional cube looks like--called a hypercube. It's hard to visualize when you're looking at it as it's a 2 dimensional representation of a 4th dimensional object Stu, I will admit that I need an a-ha experience around the 4th dimension stuff - and looking at those diagrams hasn't initiated one yet, but I will try. I'm still stuck in Lineland in so many ways. MQ
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Post by MaxQuad on Mar 13, 2005 19:50:41 GMT -5
I just realized that I badly misspelled the words "dimension" and "dimensional". Stu, No knead to apologize. It was phun and kool to reed a youneek spelling of those wurds. Who one the basquetball gaym? MQ
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Post by MaxQuad on Mar 13, 2005 19:56:07 GMT -5
Well, I never wondered why I couldn't hit in little league. I sucked. I had a unique phenomenon of playing little league baseball for 4 years and being an absolutely lousy hitter in years 1 and 3, and a phenomenal hitter in years 2 and 4. Unfortunately, my father could not sympathize with my plight during years 1 and 3 - just standing on the sidelines shaking his head. MQ
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Post by stubedoo on Mar 15, 2005 1:23:21 GMT -5
Stu, I will admit that I need an a-ha experience around the 4th dimension stuff - and looking at those diagrams hasn't initiated one yet, but I will try. I'm still stuck in Lineland in so many ways. MQ Max, See if this helps. Think of a plane moving through a space. Anything in front of the plane we will call the "future" and anything behind the plane we will call the "past". The plane itself is called the "present." The denizens of flatland live on the plane. The plane divides the space into two hemi-spaces. Now, go up one dimension. We live in a space. The space moves through time, just as the plane moves through space, and we see what is on our space as the "present". Our space divides time up into two hemi-times--the "future'" and the "past." Now in reality (with special and general relativity), it's a lot more complicated than that, but for the sake of understanding the geometry it'll help. Stu
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Post by MaxQuad on Mar 22, 2005 21:54:21 GMT -5
I think you'll enjoy Drop City, Max. You might want to kill some of these jackass characters by the end --- I think TC did a great job with character development and setting in this one. He really makes you feel like you're there... for better or worse. Shutter Girl, Drop City was an i;I don't think so," Jinny says with a sweatdrop.
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Post by admin on May 21, 2024 8:37:36 GMT -5
Touya looked embarassed but Shina nodded happily an said. "Yes we have been engaged since we were both children being trained to be ninjas. Unfortunatly he vanished without a word so I've been looking ok marriages, a house husband, a panty sniffer, a playground, an affair, a book club, a convicted child molester in the neighborhood - throw them all together, mix vigorously, and you have Little Children. A wonderful and quick read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I enjoyed your Drop City comments. Thanks again for that suggestion. I've read many good books recently, but that was among the best.
MQ
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Post by admin on May 21, 2024 8:37:36 GMT -5
Touya looked embarassed but Shina nodded happily an said. "Yes we have been engaged since we were both children being trained to be ninjas. Unfortunatly he vanished without a word so I've been looking ok marriages, a house husband, a panty sniffer, a playground, an affair, a book club, a convicted child molester in the neighborhood - throw them all together, mix vigorously, and you have Little Children. A wonderful and quick read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I enjoyed your Drop City comments. Thanks again for that suggestion. I've read many good books recently, but that was among the best.
MQ
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Post by admin on May 21, 2024 8:37:36 GMT -5
Touya looked embarassed but Shina nodded happily an said. "Yes we have been engaged since we were both children being trained to be ninjas. Unfortunatly he vanished without a word so I've been looking ok marriages, a house husband, a panty sniffer, a playground, an affair, a book club, a convicted child molester in the neighborhood - throw them all together, mix vigorously, and you have Little Children. A wonderful and quick read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I enjoyed your Drop City comments. Thanks again for that suggestion. I've read many good books recently, but that was among the best.
MQ
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Post by admin on May 21, 2024 8:37:36 GMT -5
Touya looked embarassed but Shina nodded happily an said. "Yes we have been engaged since we were both children being trained to be ninjas. Unfortunatly he vanished without a word so I've been looking ok marriages, a house husband, a panty sniffer, a playground, an affair, a book club, a convicted child molester in the neighborhood - throw them all together, mix vigorously, and you have Little Children. A wonderful and quick read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I enjoyed your Drop City comments. Thanks again for that suggestion. I've read many good books recently, but that was among the best.
MQ
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