The fourth

dimension
The 4th Dimension
• What is the fourth dimension
?
• What do we know about it ?
• How can we "see" it ?
• The finite universe theory
 What is the fourth dimension ?

In this part, we'll focus on the fourth

SPATIAL dimension.

If the 4th dimension is time, we'll talk

about spacetime.
 What is the fourth dimension ?
Easy algebraic construction :

2D : vector : u = (x,y)
distance : x 2  y 2
scalar product :
u v  xu xv  yu yv

 What is the fourth dimension ?
Easy algebraic construction :

3D : vector : u = (x,y,z)
distance : x 2  y 2  z 2
scalar product :
u v  x u x v  y u y v  zu zv

 What is the fourth dimension ?
Easy algebraic construction :

4D : vector : u = (x,y,z,w)
distance : x 2  y 2  z 2  w 2
scalar product :
u v  x u x v  y u y v  zu zv  w u w v

 What is the fourth dimension ?

Geometric point of view :

r
w
Can we build a vectorr  ,
r r orthogonal to
x, y, z  ?
each of the vectors
3
Impossible in ℝ !!!


 What we know about it :
• No difficulty in analyzing, describing, and
cataloging the properties of all sorts of 4-d
figures
• Equivalents of 3-d figures in 4-d

Sphere Hypersphere
5 Platonic solids 6 Polytopes :
• the 4-simplex (five tetrahedra,
with three tetrahedra meeting at
an edge)
• the tesseract (eight cubes,
meeting three per edge)
• the 16-cell (16 tetrahedra,
meeting four per edge)
• the 24-cell (24 octahedra,
meeting three per edge)
• the 120-cell (120
dodecahedra, meeting three
per edge)
• the 600-cell (600 tetrahedra,
meeting five per edge).
 How can we picture it ?
• Impossible to grasp 4D-objects in our
3D-space.

• What we CAN grasp: intersection of 4D-

objects with 3D-spaces.
 How can we picture it ?
• Projection :
→ studies how 3D-sets and lesser dimension
sets interact.
→ examples (flatland, Plato's cave)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwL_zi9JNkE&feature=fvw
→ allows us to visualize 3D-objects on 2D-
surfaces (films, pictures,visual scope).
→ analogy with 4D.
 How can we picture it ?
Example : the hypercube

Defined by the formula:

H  x1, x 2 , x 3 , x 4   R /i  1,2,3,4x i  0,1

4
 How can we picture it ?
Example : the hypercube

projection of a
cube on a 2D-
plane

projection of a
hypercube on a
3D-space
 How can we picture it ?
• Shadow :
→ closely related to projection.
→ 3D-objects cast a 2D shadow.

→ by analogy, a 4D-object lit in the 4th dimension

would cast a 3D-shadow.
 How can we picture it ?
Example : the hypercube 3D-shadow of a hypercube

A tesseract can be
subdivided into smaller 4-d
blocks in the same way that
a cube can be divided into
smaller cubes, or a square
into smaller squares.
 More stuff about the hypercube

A 4-d object needs to be rotated for us to

appreciate its higher dimensionality.
 The 3-sphere
• Aka the glome
• Intersection with our 3D-space: sphere
 The 3-sphere
Stereographic projection :
• The stereographic projection is a particular mapping
that projects a sphere onto a plane.
• The projection is defined on the entire sphere, except
at one point — the projection point.
• Where it is defined, the mapping is smooth and
bijective. It preserves angles.
 The 3-sphere
Stereographic projection :
 The 3-sphere
Stereographic projection of the 3-sphere:
 The 3-sphere
Stereographic projection of the 3-sphere:
• Projection in a 3D-space

• Red lines: paralells

Blue lines: meridians
Green lines: hypermeridians

• http://www.josleys.com/articles/ams_article/images/S3_01_s.mov
 4th dimensional objects
• Klein Bottle • The 24-cell polytope or
octacube
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