24/01/2024, 16:00 Dimension

Math 21a Handouts

Janet Chen

3 Dimension
We're familiar with picturing sets of points in R . For 2

example, the set of points (x, y) in R satisfying x + y 2 2 2

= 1

is a circle, while the set of points in R satisfying 2

x + y < 1 is a disk.
2 2

What about in R ? Now, the equation x + y = 1 describes

3 2 2

a cylinder (since z can be anything). And x + y < 1 2 2

describes the interior of that cylinder, which is a solid. The

pair of equations x + y = 1, z = 3 describes a circle,
2 2

which is a curve. These objects are shown below from two

viewpoints. (Note that both x + y = 1 and x + y < 1 2 2 2 2

extend forever up and down, but we have no hope of

drawing that!)

x
2
+ y
2
= 1 (surface) x
2
+ y
2
< 1 (solid) x
2
+ y
2
= 1, z = 3 (curve)

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When we study objects like these, it's helpful to talk about

their dimensions. You might think that objects in R are 2-
2

dimensional and objects in R are 3-dimensional, but that's

3

not what mathematicians mean when they talk about

dimension. (We sometimes call that ambient dimension,
so saying that an object has ambient dimension 2 is just
another way of saying the object lives in R .) 2

Intuitively, the dimension of an object tells us how many

independent directions somebody living in the object could
move forward/back in. For example, think about a plane in
R like the one shown below:
3

An ant living on the plane could go in the red direction (let's

call that “north/south”) or in the blue direction (let's call
that “east/west”). Any other direction the ant could go, like
southeast, is a combination of north/south and east/west.
So, there are really just 2 independent directions the ant
can move in, which is why we say that the plane is 2-
dimensional (even though the plane has ambient
dimension 3 because it sits in R ). 3

With this idea of dimension:

A curve (whether it's in R or R ) is 1-dimensional.

2 3

A surface in R is 2-dimensional.
3

A solid in R is 3-dimensional.
3

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Points are 0-dimensional.

Here's another way to think about why we say a surface in

R is 2-dimensional. Imagine that you zoomed in a lot on
3

the surface, or that you're something incredibly tiny living

on the surface. At a typical point on the surface, the
surface looks flat to you (just think of how we live on the
surface of the Earth, which is roughly a sphere, but when
we look at the ground, it appears flat). In other words, if
you're somebody tiny living on the surface, the surface
looks an awful lot like R to you; therefore, it's reasonable
2

to say that the surface is 2-dimensional.

A rigorous mathematical definition of dimension is actually

pretty difficult to state, so we won't do that here; if you're
interested, you should take a course like Math 132 to learn
more!

3.1 Rules of thumb

Let's look at several more examples to get a better idea of
how an object's mathematical description is related to its
dimension.

Example 3.1. Let's start with a few examples in R 2

.
Consider the following five objects in R : 2

1. xy = 6

2. x
2
+ y
2
= 16

3. x
2
+ y
2
> 16

4. xy = 6 and x 2
+ y
2
> 16

5. xy = 6 and x 2
+ y
2
= 16

Can you figure out what each one looks like and what its
dimension is? Give it a try before reading the answers
below.

▼ Solution

Here are the first three:

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The first two are curves, so they're 1-dimensional (a

bug on the curve can walk forward/backward along
the curve but not in any other independent
direction). The third is 2-dimensional (a bug in the
middle of this region could walk in 2 independent
directions, the x-direction and the y-direction). Here
are the last two (in blue), shown with xy = 6 and
x + y = 16 in gray:
2 2

It makes sense to say the last example is 0-

dimensional because a bug on one of the points
can't move at all; there are 0 directions it could go!

These examples illustrate a few rules of thumb.

Adding an equation typically decreases the dimension

by 1. For example, R is 2-dimensional but adding
2

one equation like xy = 6 results in something 1-

dimensional. Adding another equation like
x + y = 16 (so that we're looking at points with both
2 2

xy = 6 and x + y = 16) results in something 0-

2 2

dimensional.
Adding an inequality typically doesn't change the
dimension. For example, R is 2-dimensional, and
2

adding one inequality like x + y > 16 results in

2 2

something that's still 2-dimensional.

As another example, xy = 6 is 1-dimensional, and

adding the inequality x + y > 16 (so that we're
2 2

looking at points with both xy = 6 and x + y > 16)

2 2

results in something that's still 1-dimensional.

Example 3.2. If you go back to the examples at the

beginning of this handout, you should see that they also
fit these rules of thumb. For example, the inequality

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x
2
+ yin R describes a solid cylinder, which has
2
< 1
3

dimension 3 (the same as R itself). 3

On the other hand, the equation x + y = 1 has 2 2

dimension 2 (1 less than the dimension of R ). Adding an 3

inequality to this\,—\,for example, by looking at the points

with x + y = 1 and z > 0\,—\,still gives us something 2-
2 2

dimensional.

Having two equations, like x + y = 1 and z = 3, gives us

2 2

something 1-dimensional; each equation reduces the

dimension by 1.

Example 3.3. You might wonder why we call these

“rules of thumb” rather than simply “rules”. The reason is
that, although these rules of thumb generally hold true,
there are exceptions. For instance, the equation
x + y + z = 0 in R describes a single point (the origin),
2 2 2 3

so it's 0-dimensional even though our rule of thumb says

a single equation in R should describe something 2-
3

dimensional.

Of course, if we looked at x + y + z = a for any positive

2 2 2

value a, our rule of thumb would work; it's only when

a = 0 that we have an issue. Mathematicians call

exceptions like this degenerate cases. You should be aware

that these exist, but they are atypical.

3.2 Why is dimension important?

There are a few reasons the idea of dimension will be
important in Math 21a. First, knowing the dimension of an
object is often the first step toward figuring out how to
describe the object mathematically. For example, in R , a 3

plane is 2-dimensional, and we expect 2-dimensional

objects in R to be described by a single equation. So, it's
3

reasonable to think we can describe a plane using a single

equation, and we'll do this in a few weeks. On the other
hand, a line is 1-dimensional, so we don't expect to be able
to describe a line using a single equation; we'll need to
figure out some other way of describing lines.

We'll also see that the dimension of an object is very

important when we study integration. It turns out that the
way you integrate over a 1-dimensional object in R is 3

different from the way you integrate over a 2-dimensional

object in R , which is different from the way you integrate
3

over a 2-dimensional object in R ! The idea of dimension

2

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will help us figure out what types of integrals are

appropriate in different contexts.

In 21a, you should make it a habit to think about the

dimension and ambient dimension of every object you
encounter; it's the first step to making sense of any
multivariable situation!

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