WTF is this? Is it logical?

Raoul Duke, Jr. · Post by **Raoul Duke, Jr.** » 2002-11-05 08:04pm

Okay, I did a Google search just on a whim for the word "Tesseract," which I remembered from reading some weird-ass sci-fi book when I was a kid (I forget the title). It came up with this:

http://pw1.netcom.com/~hjsmith/WireFram ... eract.html

It's a "4-dimensional cube" which (if I interpreted the other tesseract stuff right) is what hyperspace looks life.

What do you all make of it?

Post by **Colonel Olrik** » 2002-11-05 08:11pm

It's a well known mathematical construction. There's really nothing to it. You can draw one yourself. Just take the square - gives way to cube construction one step further.

The idea is that in 4D space it would form an object, just like you can draw a cube in 2D and observe it as in 3D

Post by **haas mark** » 2002-11-05 08:15pm

Never mind this.

Raoul Duke, Jr. · Post by **Raoul Duke, Jr.** » 2002-11-05 08:24pm

Sorry, guys -- didn't realize this was such a basic thing. Keep in mind that I'm not a math guy -- I'm only one step above the guy who gets tripped out by an abbacus...

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2002-11-05 08:33pm

Raoul Duke, Jr. wrote:Sorry, guys -- didn't realize this was such a basic thing. Keep in mind that I'm not a math guy -- I'm only one step above the guy who gets tripped out by an abbacus...

I still have horrible repressed memories of my geometry class where we dealt with things like mapping higher dimensional objects into 3-D space. This is a Klein Bottle, the source of many nightmares and headaches in that class. It's a 4-D one-sided object immersed into 3-D space, and there's some really fucked up math to go with it. The inside is the outside and some really weirdass stuff like that. My head hurts just thinking about it.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2002-11-05 08:34pm

Tesserect is also from that book called "Wrinkle in Time" isn't it?

Post by **haas mark** » 2002-11-05 08:37pm

aerius: Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. And check your PMs.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2002-11-05 08:42pm

It's a three dimensional representation of a four dimensional object, much as a mobius strip is a three dimensional representation of a one dimensional object.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2002-11-05 09:44pm

What really gets fun is the fact that the shadow of a four-dimensional object is three-dimensional...kinda makes you wonder.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2002-11-05 09:54pm

The Dark wrote:What really gets fun is the fact that the shadow of a four-dimensional object is three-dimensional...kinda makes you wonder.

What do you mean? If I draw a cube on paper, then it's essentially a 2D representation of a 3D object.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2002-11-05 09:57pm

aerius wrote:
Raoul Duke, Jr. wrote:Sorry, guys -- didn't realize this was such a basic thing. Keep in mind that I'm not a math guy -- I'm only one step above the guy who gets tripped out by an abbacus...
I still have horrible repressed memories of my geometry class where we dealt with things like mapping higher dimensional objects into 3-D space. This is a Klein Bottle, the source of many nightmares and headaches in that class. It's a 4-D one-sided object immersed into 3-D space, and there's some really fucked up math to go with it. The inside is the outside and some really weirdass stuff like that. My head hurts just thinking about it.

Those things are cool, if something o a pain to make. I've assisted for three of them, only one came out correctly though.

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2002-11-06 12:56am

Heh. I love hyperdimensional stuff.

I once managed to visualize a hypersphere while I was severely sleep deprived and high on caffeine. It was red, too.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2002-11-06 01:01am

Funky.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2002-11-06 01:03am

Master of Ossus wrote:
The Dark wrote:What really gets fun is the fact that the shadow of a four-dimensional object is three-dimensional...kinda makes you wonder.
What do you mean? If I draw a cube on paper, then it's essentially a 2D representation of a 3D object.

Think about it. You're three-dimensional, and you cast a two-dimensional shadow (shadows have length and width, but no depth). Mathematical theory states that any object's shadow has one less dimension than the object. Thus, the shadow of a four-dimensional object is three-dimensional, just like us.

Antie · Post by **Antie** » 2002-11-06 01:20am

A character in the book "A Wrinkle in Time" claims that the fifth dimension is a tesseract.

Charles Wallace: "Well, the fifth dimension's a tesseract. You add that to the other four dimensions and you can travel through space without having to go the long way around."

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2002-11-06 01:58am

Trying to envision a hypercube is a surefire way to get a headache.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2002-11-06 02:35am

We had a chapter on them in high school precalculus, it was our way of torturing freshmen.

"Look what upperclassmen have to learn!"
"NO!! ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!"

I still don't understand 4-dimensional mathematics.