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THE FOURTH DIMENSION SIMPLY EXPLAINED
Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com
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The Fourth DimensionSimply Explained
Edited by Henry P ManningGet any book for free on:www.Abika.com
 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION SIMPLY EXPLAINED
Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com
2
The Fourth DimensionSimply ExplainedA COLLECTION OF ESSAYS SELECTED FROMTHOSE SUBMITTED IN THE SCIENTIFICAMERICAN'S PRIZE COMPETITIONWITH AN INTRODUCTION AND EDITORIAL NOTES BYHENRY P. MANNING, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Mathematics in Brown University
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PREFACE
IN January, 1909, a friend of the Scientific American, who desired to remain unknown, paidinto the hands of the publishers the sum of Five Hundred Dollars, which was to be awarded as aprize for the best popular explanation of the Fourth Dimension, the object being to set forth in anessay not longer than twenty-five hundred words the meaning of the term so that the ordinary layreader could understand it. The essays, 245 in number, were submitted under pseudonyms, inaccordance with the rules drawn up by the Editor of the Scientific American, and were judged byProf. Henry P. Manning, of Brown University, and Prof. S. A. Mitchell, of Columbia University.The Five Hundred Dollar prize was awarded by the judges to Lieut.-Col. Graham Denby Fitch,Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. The prize-winning essay was published in the Scientific Americanof July 3rd, 1909, and three essays, which received honorabe mention, made their appearance inthe issues of July 10th, 17th, and 24th, 1909.Despite the character of the subject, extraordinary interest was manifested in the contest.Competitive essays were received not only from the United States, but from Turkey, Austria,Holland, India, Australia, France, and Germany. In fact, almost every civilized country wasrepresented. Because of this unexpected interest in the subject, it has seemed advisable topreserve in permanent form a few of the essays
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 which were submitted. Accordingly Prof. Henry P. Manning has chosen from the essays those which lendthemselves best for the purpose of a popular book on the Fourth Dimension; in other words, those which present thesubject from as many different points of view as possible. With the exception of the prize-winning and honorablymentioned essays, no attempt has been made to arrange the essays in the order of merit.
The publishers trust that the brief expositions of the Fourth Dimension here offered may serveto popularize a topic which has hitherto been unfortunately classed with such geometricalabsurdities as the squaring of a circle and the bisection of an angle.
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION SIMPLY EXPLAINED
Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com
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CONTENTS
•
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
•
I. AN ELUCIDATION OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
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II. NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY AND THE FOURTH DIMENSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
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III. FOURTH DIMENSION ABSURDITIES. . . . . . . . . . 60
•
IV. THE BOUNDARY OF THE FOUR-DIMENSIONAL UNIT AND OTHER FEATURES OF FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SPACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
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V. HOW THE FOURTH DIMENSION MAY BE STUDIED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
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VI. SPACE AND HYPERSPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
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VII. AN INTERPRETATION OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
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VIII. LENGTH, BREADTH, THICKNESS, AND THEN WHAT?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
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IX. THE FURTH DIMENSION ALGEBRAICALLY CONSIDERED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
•
X. DIFFICULTIES IN IMAGINING THE FOURTH DIMENSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
•
XI. SOME FOURTH DIMENSION CURIOSITIES. . . . . . . .134
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XII. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
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•
XIII. THE FOURTH DIMENSION, THE PLAYGROUND OF MATHEMATICS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
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XIV. THE TRUE AND THE FALSE IN THE THEORY OF FOUR DIMENSIONS . . . . . . . . . . .163
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XV. THE ASCENDING SERIES OF DIMENSIONS . . . . . . .172
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XVI. THE MIND'S EYE AND THE FOURTH DIMENSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
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XVII. OTHER DIMENSIONS THAN OURS . . . . . . . . . .192
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XVIII. THE MEANING OF THE TERM "FOURTH DIMENSION" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201
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XIX. A PUPIL IN GEOMETRY QUIZZES HIS TEACHER ABOUT THE FOURTH DIMENSION. . . . . . .211
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XX. POSSIBLE MEASUREMENTS AND FORMS IN A SYSTEM OF FOUR DIMENSIONS. . . . . . . . .220
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XXI. THE FAIRYLAND OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION . . . . .232
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XXII. THE PROPERTIES OF FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SPACE . . .243
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