Explaining the Fourth Dimension for Beginners

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around explaining the concept of the fourth dimension, particularly for beginners. Participants explore theoretical and conceptual aspects of the fourth dimension, with a focus on visualizing it through coordinates and geometric representations.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks a clearer explanation of the fourth dimension, expressing confusion and a desire for resources.
  • Another participant suggests that understanding the fourth dimension can begin by extending the concept of coordinates from two dimensions (x,y) to three dimensions (x,y,z) and then to four dimensions (w,x,y,z).
  • Links to external resources are provided for further exploration of four-dimensional concepts, particularly focusing on 4-D cubes.
  • Visual aids, such as a rotating 4D cube illustration, are shared to help conceptualize the fourth dimension.
  • A participant reflects on the usefulness of the image shared and inquires about its origin.
  • Another participant identifies the image as being from Wikipedia, suggesting it was created by a contributor to that platform.
  • One participant introduces the idea that the fourth dimension can be understood through weather forecasting, describing it as a model that incorporates spatial and temporal dimensions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying degrees of understanding and approaches to conceptualizing the fourth dimension. There is no consensus on a singular explanation or model, and multiple viewpoints are presented.

Contextual Notes

Some participants may have differing interpretations of the fourth dimension, and the discussion includes various illustrative methods that may not fully resolve the complexities involved.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in mathematics, physics, or conceptual visualization of higher dimensions may find this discussion beneficial.

Beetle-jucie
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Okay how can someone explain the four dimension in so that someone like me can under stand them?

I'm asking this question because my math teacher will not talk about it so that the other students would not get confused. I get the theory (or how ever you want to say it)a little bit but i still don't get the whole picture.

So if you can explain it to me or send me to another website that I might be able to get it would be a huge help to me.

please and thank you :approve:
 
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The basic idea is not difficult once you've mastered the idea of plotting points in two dimensions by using pairs of coordinates (x,y) and then points in three dimensions by triplets of coordinates (x,y,z). If you then imagine points in 4-D with coordinates given by (w,x,y,z), you're on your way.

There are plenty of good sites for understanding what it means to add a fourth dimension to three basic ones. These ones tend to focus on 4-D cubes, since that has been something of an interest for me, but they also give you a general idea of how to think in four dimensions:

http://www.math.union.edu/~dpvc/math/4D/welcome.html"
http://www.naturalmath.com/jokes/joke10.html"
http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/docs/forum/polytope/"
 
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Hopefully this isn't simply more confusing, but here's an illustration of a 3D section of a rotating 4D cube:

[PLAIN]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/8-cell.gif[RIGHT][SIZE="6"]⚛[/RIGHT][/URL]
 
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thanks, I'm starting to get it
 
CaptainQuasar said:
Hopefully this isn't simply more confusing, but here's an illustration of a 3D section of a rotating 4D cube:

[PLAIN]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/8-cell.gif[RIGHT][SIZE="6"]⚛[/RIGHT][/QUOTE][/URL]

I love that image. I downloaded it a while back and now use it as an avatar elsewhere, but I've forgotten where I first saw it. Do you know who made it or where it comes from?
 
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It's from Wikipedia, I assume a contributor there created it because there are several different versions in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract" article.
 
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The fourth dimension is as far I have experienced it the best expressed in Weather(forecasts). Not only the results of the calculations of huge computers, but also the modelling thing itself. As Richardson used his "human" computer in the beginning of the twentieth century (because electrical were not yet available); weather is there on many spatial points and on all time. So fourthdimensional it is, as such it is modeled and as such they use their formulas.
 

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