4-D Coordinate Plane

[tomas]

Is their a 4-D coordinate plane?

[maximus]

yes there is. they are (x,y,z,t) t=time.

suppose you are measuring a point on in a room. it can be x from one wall, y from another, and z from the floor. but what if one were to measure an event that took place at a point in this room? to do so you must introduce t.

[HallsofIvy]

Since you are talking "coordinate systems" which are mathematical constructs, of course there are. If, for example, one were working on a problem involving all spheres, which can be identified by their center and radius, it would make sense to use a 4-dimensional space: 3 coordinates for the center and the fourth for radius.

It's not uncommon for physicists working in statistical mechanics to use an "n-dimensional" space where n is some huge number: 3 times the number of particles involved.

And, of course, "functional analysis"- used in theory of differential equations- regularly works with infinite dimensional spaces.