3 ms·
How I use time to visualize the 4th dimension is this: Imagine standing on one side of a room at t0 and walking across the room, reaching the other side at t1.
by rcme 3y ago
How I use time to visualize the 4th dimension is this:
Imagine standing on one side of a room at t0 and walking across the room, reaching the other side at t1. At each instant in time, your body has a 3D position in the room. So the 4D shape of your body between t0 and t1 is kind of like the path your body took through the room. You can create a 3D slice at any point between t0 and t1 and get exactly where your body was at that moment in time.
- jasonjmcghee 3y agoFor the sake of discussion let's try it for 2D->3D: At each instant in time, your body has a 2D position on the screen. So the 3D shape of your body between t0 and t1 is kind of like the path your body took across the screen. You can create a 2D slice at any point between t0 and t1 and get exactly where your body was at that moment in time. That doesn't help me understand 3D space. It helps me understand 2D changing over time. Think of all the implications that "depth" - that extra spacial dimension - has on the world. How dramatically it changes things, and how differently things work with it.
- rcme 3y ago> That doesn't help me understand 3D space. It helps me understand 2D changing over time. If you treat time as a dimension then you now understand 3D. There is a book called Flatland that takes place in a 2D world occupied by 2D shapes. The shapes can only perceive two dimensions. One shape encounters a sphere, but to the shape, the sphere looks like a changing circle. It makes you realize that it's probably impossible to conceptualize a sphere if your only frame of reference is two dimensions. Similarly, in your maze example, you're placing one piece of paper over another one, meaning the paper already exists in 3 spatial dimensions. How can I place one 4D object "over" another one?