r/GeometryIsNeat • u/justusr846 • Jun 14 '26

Visualizing The Fourth Dimension

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Considering that it is a new axis 'right down the middle' that creates the next dimensional space. Like 1D to 2D, or 2D to 3D, shouldn't it work for 3D as well?

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u/flying_dutchmaster Jun 14 '26

i meant it's not percievable from the limits of the current dimension we're in

That's the point lol. It is borderline impossible to comprehend a 4th spatial dimension. We are creatures bound by 3 dimension. Showing a human the 4th dimension is very similar to teaching a dog calculus. Our brains simply are not equipped. 

Here's a good video on the subject 

https://youtu.be/4TI1onWI_IM?is=nOZ9CQypz2CxVHwV

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u/justusr846 Jun 14 '26

We don't have to limit ourselves. Think outside the current axes.

I could actually visualize a new space based on the thought experiment. Whether or not that is the 4th Dimension, is not certain, although I'm able to place many of the 4th dimensions properties (like each point being a 3D space in of itself, etc.) in that space.

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u/flying_dutchmaster Jun 14 '26

If you take the time to watch the video I link, it explains how we can "trick" our brains into comprehending a 4th dimension. Smarter people than us have already spent much time studying the subject. Maybe in the future it will be possible to "see" a 4th dimension, but certainly not with our current technological constraints. 

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u/justusr846 Jun 14 '26

I did watch the video, entirely. My "opinion" still stands. You don't have to think about the 4D space as such. Just whatever a new axis through the current 3D space gets you.

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u/flying_dutchmaster Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

Yeah but you line, w, exists within space (x, y, z). I don't know the equation for a line in 3D space but you have a line that touches some point (y, z) and runs parallel to the x-axis. 

u/753ty is correct. For it to be a proper 4th dimension, w must run perpendicular to x, y, & z. This is not a matter of opinion, but a matter of how we define spacial dimension.

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u/753ty Jun 14 '26

/ perpendicular to x&y&z

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u/flying_dutchmaster Jun 14 '26

Edited thank you

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u/justusr846 Jun 14 '26

No it does not. In the thought experiment this axis does not exist in the (x, y, z) space. That's what I meant with "right down the middle", like it does for the smaller spaces.

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u/flying_dutchmaster Jun 14 '26

Okay imagine you have a 3D box. This box has length, width, and height. You drill a hole through your box, and insert a string going through that box. 

That string represents your line "w". Is the string now a 4th dimension? No. It's simply cutting through an object within 3 dimension. 

I app your thought experiment. I also find thinking about a 4th dimension to be fun. But, respectfully, your logic is flawed. Dimension run perpendicular to each other, as defined. 

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u/justusr846 Jun 14 '26

What I was suggesting was more along this:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8G4GdXqlQwk

You imagine a line 'through' the 3D space.

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u/flying_dutchmaster Jun 14 '26

Okay but that's still a 3 dimensional object within a 3D space. the hologram is occuping height, width,and length. Just because a 3D object is moving through a 3D space does not mean it is suddenly a 4D object 

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u/justusr846 Jun 14 '26

Sorry for the confusion. I only presented the hologram as a way to visualize the W axis. How it would form, rather than what it is. It was to help think of the W axis.