Imagining the 10th dimension

**Chickadee23** · 02-07-2014 09:21 PM

Has anyone seen Rob Bryantons Imagining the 10th Dimension video? I am not that smart when it comes to understanding about the different dimensions but I like the way he helps me visualize it. I only ever get up to the 7th or 8th part( this was before he put them all together in a video) but from time to time I come back to try again. Am I wasting my time with this? Is anything valid? I don't think he is a trained physicist but he never says that this is fact. He just gives ways to think about the world we live in. Also I find it interesting when he says that he thinks we live in the 5th dimension but we can't observe it cause it is at an orthogonal angle to us. I think that's what he says

I have to admit I am a lurker of ED and I find it super interesting but also intimidating so if this is no good don't kill me please

. But I would love to know what you guys think.

**Xei** · 02-08-2014 05:58 PM

It doesn't make any sense to me. Like he says at the start, he's supposed to be describing spacial dimensions. But then he uses time, quantum wavefunctions, and all sorts of other weird things which are not space to represent higher dimensions. If you think about the three spacial dimensions we live in, an important attribute is that they don't have an order. That is, if you choose an x, y, and z axis, there's nothing special about them. You could swap the x and y, for instance; they both behave in just the same way and describe the same kind of thing. In fact you can point your axes in any directions you like (as long as they're not in the same plane), and you can then uniquely describe a point in space using the distance along each axis (which is the definition of a space having three dimensions).

Algebraically, multiple (flat) dimensions are extremely easy to 'visualise' and work with. An example of a point in three dimensions is (2, 7, 5). An example of a point in ten dimensions is (5, 8, 3, 5, 1, 9, 3, 5, 8, 3). If I went to that point and then moved 100 units in the 6th dimension, I would get to point (5, 8, 3, 5, 1, 109, 3, 5, 8, 3), and so on. That's all there is to it.

Drawing a four dimensional cube is also pretty easy. I recommend you try it yourself before you read the following, it's a really fun puzzle. The key is to try to find some kind of pattern that takes you from 0D (a point) to 1D (a line) to 2D (a square) to 3d (a cube).

Spoiler for The answer...:

Another way to think about it is to go back to coordinates. A square is described by the points (0,0), (1,0), (0,1), (1,1). A cube is each of these four points, with a 3rd coordinate which can be either 0 or 1. So a four dimensional cube is described by points (0,0,0,0), (0,0,0,1), (0,0,1,0), ... , (1, 1, 1, 0), (1, 1, 1, 1).

String theory is complicated by some of the dimensions being curved, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to tell you much about that, except to recommend ignoring anything the video said about the subject.

**Marvo** · 02-08-2014 07:18 PM

Please put this video into "Inner Sanctum". Intellectually there's nothing to be gained from listening to nearly two hours of Bryanton's drivel.

**Chickadee23** · 02-08-2014 08:02 PM

@xei

Thanks for the response. I read your post several times but I don't understand really any of it. Its not your explanation it's me. I guess I should look for some beginner books on different dimensions or something. Thanks anyways.

@marvo
I would do that but I am not sure how. I will check it out in meta forum.

**Marvo** · 02-08-2014 08:19 PM

Oh don't worry about it, that's just my way of dismissing ridiculous videos. It can stay I suppose.

**Chickadee23** · 02-08-2014 08:39 PM

@marvo

Oops I already sent message in meta forum and looked up how to move posts but I could find a way. I guess we will have to wait and see, no biggie I suppose

**Chickadee23** · 02-09-2014 07:27 PM

Ok so I took your advice and went looked for a different resource. I found this Stanford university posts lectures on youtube with a whole range of math and science topics. They even have a series on string theory too! Anyways this is the first of 10 videos on theoretical minimum, which I guess is abstract math, and I don't know if it's a good place to start but I seem to be grasping the concept of the video. it reminded me a little of probability I did in high school math. The first half seemed really easy but the second half when he talked about complex numbers and complex conjugate numbers and vector spaces was a little harder (never learned about these things before) but I managed I think

I am sure it will get more complex but I think what I like about these videos is that it I learn better with audio and visuals than with purely reading subjects.

**Marvo** · 02-09-2014 07:50 PM

If you want to actually educate yourself, you should look into Khan Academy, it's an excellent free learning resource. Basically the main guy in the project makes tons of videos on math and calculus.

Here's their course on imaginary numbers. Just start with the first video and enjoy free education

**Xei** · 02-09-2014 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by Chickadee23

@xei

Thanks for the response. I read your post several times but I don't understand really any of it. Its not your explanation it's me. I guess I should look for some beginner books on different dimensions or something. Thanks anyways.

What I said was pretty much the beginning. Do you know how to use 2D and 3D coordinate systems..? Maybe look for some videos on that, it's very easy to get to grips with.