The Fourth Dimension
Explanation of the main concepts of the fourth dimension including its history and uses in today’s world.
Most people have heard of the three dimensions: length (depth), height, and width. They are dimensions because they are all perpendicular to each other. The fourth dimension is perpendicular as well to the other three. The directions the fourth dimension travels in is used by the terms ana/kata (as opposed to up/down, east/west, or north/south for the other dimensions). The fourth dimension represents time and has many uses and importance in science and math.
The fourth dimension can be a very confusing topic; therefore, many people have tried to help explain it through books. One person who helped explain dimensions was Edwin Abbott. He wrote the book Flatland in 1884 which is still popular among students today and is useful in studying dimensions. It was also well-liked for its comical relations to the social ways of Victorian society.
History
The main mathematician that came up with the fourth dimension was Charles Howard Hinton. In 1880, he wrote an article titled “What is the fourth dimension?” in which he first introduced the idea of a fourth dimension that represented time. One thing he said to help understand the fourth dimension is that while you can see all of a 3-D object, you can never see all of a 4-D object. The reason for this is that humans are 3-D objects. But as 3-D objects, we cannot view the entire object. He made many new words to help describe the new elements of the fourth dimension including ana/kata (as used above) and tesseract which is defined as the four-dimensional analog of the three-dimensional cube. These words were first noted in his 1888 book A New Era of Thought.
Uses
The fourth dimension is used for many things in math and the understanding of theories. The fourth dimension played a critical role in helped to understand space-time in Albert Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity. The fourth dimension is also used in Cartesian geometry and orthogonality. Euclidean geometry is what provides many different shapes to exist in dimensions well beyond only three. Learning how the fourth dimension works also helps reinforce your knowledge of the other three dimensions, and spatial patterns using dimensions.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kata_%28mathematics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_dimension
http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/7997/whatis4d.html
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5 Responses to “The Fourth Dimension”
On February 7, 2009 at 8:52 am
Quite a nice article. Perhaps you could have made it a little longer and went into things in a little more detail. The book “a brief history of time” by stephen hawking is good for further reading on this subjct. It explains alot about time and how ti visualise it.
On February 15, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Nice article. Very interesting. Thanks for providing the sources as well!
On February 26, 2009 at 9:54 am
Nice article. The concept of dimension itself is something fuzzy when you got to the higher math. Add the fact that it is theoritically possible to have space with decimal (for example 3.22) dimension.
I have been writing several things about 4D objects since is was in high school. I think I will share some them with friends in Triond within this or next week.
On November 7, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Humans can see the full 3D only if an object is presented in 120 degrees. yet Humans have the technology to see 4D if the object is transparent or using a reflective mirror yet humans can also see the 5th D of a square by the transparency alone where the mirror won.t work though. But in a Virtual environment we can see all four and related dimensions like the directions i.e. northwest and southeast which are relative. But seeing an object in two are three dimensions has been enough for humans then why are humans searching for more than three dimensions. Ironically the most familiar scientists who searched for other dimensions are religious but which dimension the gods of the earth all around belong to? While India having the most exploitable yet worst anti-woman epics that have been regarded as the sacred texts, who will from India can understand the dimensions as the Indians who are cheap pests being hired can do the work?
On November 7, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Any straight angled object which is not a round has a minimum of 6 dimensions as the area of a not round object has evident planes which is not the same with a round object which is alien but is common to the universe because It is only the round object that gives the 2D perspective despite being a 3D object. So 6+4 =10 yet it is actually it is plus one with all the views i.e.eyes with reflection or mirroring.Ze
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