Art Meets Mathematics in the Fourth Dimension
Author | : Stephen Leon Lipscomb |
Publisher | : Springer |
Total Pages | : 191 |
Release | : 2014-10-13 |
ISBN-10 | : 9783319062549 |
ISBN-13 | : 3319062549 |
Rating | : 4/5 (549 Downloads) |
Download or read book Art Meets Mathematics in the Fourth Dimension written by Stephen Leon Lipscomb and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-13 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To see objects that live in the fourth dimension we humans would need to add a fourth dimension to our three-dimensional vision. An example of such an object that lives in the fourth dimension is a hyper-sphere or “3-sphere.” The quest to imagine the elusive 3-sphere has deep historical roots: medieval poet Dante Alighieri used a 3-sphere to convey his allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife in his Divine Comedy. In 1917, Albert Einstein visualized the universe as a 3-sphere, describing this imagery as “the place where the reader’s imagination boggles. Nobody can imagine this thing.” Over time, however, understanding of the concept of a dimension evolved. By 2003, a researcher had successfully rendered into human vision the structure of a 4-web (think of an ever increasingly-dense spider’s web). In this text, Stephen Lipscomb takes his innovative dimension theory research a step further, using the 4-web to reveal a new partial image of a 3-sphere. Illustrations support the reader’s understanding of the mathematics behind this process. Lipscomb describes a computer program that can produce partial images of a 3-sphere and suggests methods of discerning other fourth-dimensional objects that may serve as the basis for future artwork.