From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Wed Jan 14 1998 - 03:21:54 MST
CALYK <CALYK@aol.com> writes:
> In a message dated 98-01-14 01:46:49 EST, you write:
>
> << danny:
>
> > Im wondering, do the 10 dimensions include the 0 dimension, making 11
> >total? (0-point, 1-line, 2-plane, 3-d etc..)
>
> What???! >>
>
> what dont you understand?
>
> isnt it agreed that 0-point, 1-line, 2-plane, 3-d etc.. ?
Each (metric) space has a certain dimensionality, an intrinsic
property of how it hangs together. Simply speaking the number of
dimensions of a space is the number of coordinates you need to
uniquely determine the position of a point. On a line you just need
one, in a plane you need two, in 3D you need three and in higher
dimensional spaces you need more. Higher dimensional spaces can of
course have lower dimensional spaces as a subset (like a line in the
plane or a plane inside a 3D space).
Note that "dimensions" often are misused to mean something completely
different, especially in comic book physics where it seems to mean
"alternate universe".
There are infinitely many kinds of spaces of a given dimensionality
(and most are not isomorphic to each other), the big question is which
of them correspond to our universe.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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