A Visit to Flatland

http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/AVisitToFlatland

The Wolfram Demonstrations Project contains thousands of free interactive visualizations, with new entries added daily.

Spacelander, welcome to Flatland! Meet Ms. Line, Reverend Circle, and A. Square, all citizens of a magical place first described by Edwin A. Abbott in his 1884 satirical novel Flatland, A Romance of Many Dimensions. Flatlanders live in only two dimensions. They see each other's edges only. You can get a feeling for their diminished point of view by comparing the lower, horizontal display with the more privileged bird's-eye view, which only you—as a visitor from Spaceland—can have hovering over Flatland. Drag the geometric shapes around or set them in motion by clicking the "animate" button. The real challenge for you after visiting Flatland is to imagine by analogy your three-dimensional world embedded in a larger four-dimensional (or greater) space. Ask yourself what would a four-dimensional Mr. Sphere look like visiting your three-dimensional world?
Contributed by: John Kiehl

Audio created with WolframTones:
http://tones.wolfram.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• wolfram
• mathematica
• interactive
• visualization
• Dimension
• Flatland
• Geometry
• Higher
• Dimensional
• Space
• K-12
• Satire
• Topology
• free
• math
• computer
• science