Visualization
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Dusko KoscicaVisualization
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Dusko KoscicaA Method for Visualizing a Four-dimensional Space With Two
Diagrams
INTRODUCTION
Visualization is a process that allows us to present the reality around us on a paper. In another
words, one can say that we use it in order to map reality onto a paper plane without any details that are
not needed in order to solve some particular problem.
However, this is not a formal definition, but it helps us understand the basic concepts. For those
interested in it, one has access to the Internet, and this gives you a chance to find a clean, formal
definition. The formal definition is not needed for us right now, and it would be digression of some
sort. So! We will omit it.
The problem that visualization solves is practical in nature. It is easy to solve some simple examples,
but if the dimension of the problem increases, everything can become too complicated for us to be able
to manage it, and if the problem needs to be solved or shown to someone who is not technically
educated it will be not possible for the problem to be solved in any reasonable manner.
By the way, the third dimension is essentially the upper limit of human ability, but because a large
number of problems require a greater number of dimensions, we must somehow manage and make it
easier for ourselves to present space in four dimensions.
This approach can be used in:
-the computer graphics,
-Mathematics,
-Physics.
Now we will see how...
MAIN PART
To understand this approach, you need to know:
- The Descartes coordinate system,
- The Spherical coordinates,
- Some of the math (mostly related to metric spaces and mathematical analysis in space).
Try to do this again, if God forbid you forgot.
So what's the problem?
If you are in a 3-D space and you have drawn three lines perpendicular to each other (x, y and z), you
have trouble adding a new line that will represent 4 dimension(t).
I, usually, solved this problem by drawing lines curved, but this way also had its limitations.
And this particular example can be found in physics when you want to draw a standard Newton space-
time diagram with four dimensions for example. This is usally said with Albert's approach, but if
Newton did connected two thigs thogether then its world wold look like this.
We will use two diagrams, the first with Decart's coordinates consisting of r(radius of a sphere) and
time coordinates(t). This is somewhat similar to the Penrose diagram, but without negative values for
the radius of the sphere. We will note that diagram R-T(Radius-Time).
In the second diagram, we use three coordinates: x, y and z. We will note that diagram X-Y-Z
(Abscissa-Ordinate-Applicate).
This way we will be able to note the how far points are and how distance changes on the R-T diagram,
and the second diagram will be used as it is usually used in math.
Let's explain the process of calculating points on the diagram.
So, let's take one person A and person B as an example. The distance from them is 100 meters in a
straight line, and the space-time is as Newton would think of.
The person A is at the center of the coordinate axes(X-Y-Z and R-T), because we observe it from its
point of view.
Let's say, person A looked at her/his/its watch when she/he/it was at a crossroad.
If, at that moment, person B was 100 meters away from person A, it can simply be presented in the
standard Descartes coordinate space. In this case, person B is anywhere on a sphere that has a radius of
100 meters. We consider time to be as standard time in Newton's physics withoth any effects.
Now, let's imagine that you glue all the points of that sphere into one point located in the other
diagram(R-T diagram).
The second diagram has two axes. The first axis is used to record the distance from the center of the
coordinate system and can only have a positive value. Of course, if it occurs to someone that distance
can be negative, one can add that too, but this is not the topic of this article.
The second line is used to record the passage of time. Zero is used to record the moment at which we
begin observation, and everything above is used to show how time flows. Negative time does not have
to be taken into account if it is not essential for the experiment, but if it matters we can add it.
In this, example we will calculate all of the points on R-T and X-Y-Z diagrams for both persons.
And this is calculation in a table.
Person B is moving toward the person A with a speed of 10 m/s. This time we will take the y line that is
the line on which the motion is performed.
For R-T diagram
R-T diagram
Person A(m, s) Person B(m, s)
(0,0) (0,100)
(0,1) (0,90)
(0,2) (0,80)
(0,3) (0,70)
(0,4) (0,60)
(0,5) (0,50)
For X-Y-Z diagram
X-Y-Z diagram
Person A(m, m, m) Person B(m, m, m)
(0, 0, 0) (0,100)
(0, 0, 0) (0,90)
(0, 0, 0) (0,80)
(0, 0, 0) (0,70)
(0, 0, 0) (0,60)
(0, 0, 0) (0,50)
Note, that these diagrams can also be used for Albert's space-time, but this requires more complicated
sketches. Penrose diagrams with two axes are essentially used( the standard time and radius axis). And
one can use embeddind diagrams to show the curvature of space-time. But this would be a digression
and we will not go deeper into this rehearsal, and we will leave it for another article.
Also, one can use some other stuff like logorihms etc...
CONCLUSION
In this article, we have seen how four dimensions can be imagined with the help of two
diagrams. The example illustrated the situation when person A was standing in the center of the
coordinate system, and person B was 100 m away from person A.
The distance is along the y axis, but you could easily imagine it all in some arbitrary vector. Then, over
time, person B moves towards person A at a speed of 10 meters per second. I hope this example was
sufficiently illustrative.
Note that this is the first version of the document and that there will be more examples in subsequent
versions and that the explanation will be far more detailed.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesian_coordinate_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_coordinate_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_diagram
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_field
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
