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Scientific American Library Series #33
Beyond the Third Dimension: Geometry, Computer Graphics, and Higher Dimensions
This work investigates ways of picturing and understanding dimensions below and above our own. What would a two-dimensional universe be like? How can we even attempt to picture objects of four, five or six dimensions? Such are the questions examined in this text.
210 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 12, 2019
great graphics, useful diagrams, and a wonderful explanation of the hypercube
February 19, 2014
Geometrical Illustrations of Fourth Dimension
Living in a world of three dimensional space makes it hard for us to conceive fourth dimension and it gets even harder to visualize the fifth and higher dimension. Superstring theorists predict the existence of 10th and 26th dimensions in universe; hence it seems reasonable for many of us to understand how it would be like to be living in fourth dimension. Thomas Banchoff is one of the leaders in the study of higher dimension using computer graphics; he has illustrated fourth dimension using basic geometrical approach such as slicing the spatial dimension, observing the shadows of structures, comparing the folded and foldout versions of polytops and description of configuration of spaces. This book is useful for someone who appreciates geometry, but for a reader who likes to visualize the fourth dimension he/she may read Clifford Pickover's Surfing through Hyperspace, which does a better job in illustrating fourth dimension.
Living in a world of three dimensional space makes it hard for us to conceive fourth dimension and it gets even harder to visualize the fifth and higher dimension. Superstring theorists predict the existence of 10th and 26th dimensions in universe; hence it seems reasonable for many of us to understand how it would be like to be living in fourth dimension. Thomas Banchoff is one of the leaders in the study of higher dimension using computer graphics; he has illustrated fourth dimension using basic geometrical approach such as slicing the spatial dimension, observing the shadows of structures, comparing the folded and foldout versions of polytops and description of configuration of spaces. This book is useful for someone who appreciates geometry, but for a reader who likes to visualize the fourth dimension he/she may read Clifford Pickover's Surfing through Hyperspace, which does a better job in illustrating fourth dimension.
September 23, 2008
A nice and very accessible introduction to higher dimensions. There are plenty of computer-generated graphics to feed the intuition, and I particularly liked a section on representing sets of data in more than three dimensions.
October 28, 2013
This is an excellent introduction to the 4th dimension (and the 5th). It's a little difficult to follow in places, but in general readable and interesting. I will definitely use this as a resource when I teach college-level geometry courses.
January 25, 2008
A fascinating layman's review of geometry in higher dimensions
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews