wall@sri-unix (07/28/82)
For anyone who has read the math/physics short story (non-fiction) 'Flatland', it is known that time is certainly not the forth dimension. If indeed any forth dimension exists, it would be an extension of the third dimension, much in the same way that the third is an extension of the second. Just because we cannot conceive of the direction that one expands in after length, width, and height, does not mean that it isn't there. I very strongly encourage everyone who is interested to read both Flatland (any library will have it), it is very short and very nontechnical. Not only that it is even entertaining. Someone once told me that there was a technical follow-up called Physics of Flatland. - Jim Wall
trb (07/31/82)
Re: Flatland and the fourth dimension. If you think that time is THE fourth dimension, then, pray tell, EXACTLY what are the first three (which one is first, which one is second and which one is third)? I'll buy that time can be construed as a dimension, I just don't see it as being THE fourth. Andy Tannenbaum Bell Labs Whippany, NJ (201) 386-6491
felix (08/03/82)
Time is of course the Forth Dimension! I've read a book named '1,2,3...Infinity' (or something like that) whose author I've forgotten. It is a very interesting book and I highly recommend it (only if I can remember the correct names...oh, well) Felix Luk
G:wing (08/04/82)
The first three dimensions are the x, y, and z axises that we know and love...
grunwald (08/04/82)
#R:fortune:-21200:uiucdcs:10600006:000:498 uiucdcs!grunwald Aug 4 16:03:00 1982 The point that was made before was that just saying something is so does not indeed make it so. As an example, consider the Flatland world, where everything is supposed to be two dimensional. However, we are told that the creatures which inhabit this world can move, and that others can detect their movement. This only makes sense if the flatland world moves through time, otherwise everyone would sit still. Thus, perhaps Time is the first dimension, although not the first geometric dimension.
malcolm (08/05/82)
#R:fortune:-21200:pur-ee:6900005:000:404 pur-ee!malcolm Aug 4 15:54:00 1982 The book "1,2,3...Infinity" was written by George Gamow (sp?). I won a copy as a freshman in high school (for guessing the number of computer punches in a jar) and enjoyed it at the time. It is an interesting discussion of many problems (including infinities.) Unfortunately I don't remember it well enough to say if it is appropiate for the post college crowd. Malcolm Slaney Purdue EE
ecn-pa.scott (08/05/82)
Remember the query about time being *the* fourth dimension, and how come we don't differentiate between the other three? I.e. what is *the* first dimension? To a Flatlander, there's no question which dimension is the third dimension. He already knows that there are two, but the one which is orthogonal to the ones that he knows about is clearly the third one. Wouldn't it be true that one can't differentiate between dimensions in which he can freely move? Scott Deerwester Purdue University Libraries
wagner (08/08/82)
Re: 1,2,3 ... Infinity It is by George Gamov, subtitled Facts and Speculations of Science, copyright 1947. It starts with a limerick (clean!) There was a young fellow from Trinity Who took the square root of infinity But the number of digits Gave him the fidgets; He dropped Math and took up Divinity. I guess if he had subscribed to this newsgroup, he could have pondered whether God was required in a deterministic universe! Michael Wagner, UTCS