Re: CHAT: I'm back!
| From: | Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 21:32 |
|---|
--- "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh@...> wrote:
Hi.
>
> What think ye of this idea? What kind of terms might
> a language spoken
> in a 4D world have, which we do not have? At least
> one curious mind
> thirsts to know. :-)
Why, all spatial terms, of course (prepositions,
adverbs...) I guess one has to consider the relation
between a cube and hypercube, for ex. A cube has, let
us see, 6 faces, 8 vertices, 12 edges. A hypercube (or
a supercube, as Gamow says) has 24 faces, 16 vertices
and 32 edges (Gamow has drawn a nice 'supercube' on
page 67 of "One, two, three... infinity", Dover Ed.).
So the number of spatial words should be multiplied
more or less in the same proportions. Instead of:
before / behind / on the right side / on the left side
/ above / under, for ex, you should have 24 different
words.
Of course, if your original 3d-language already has
specific words for "approaching from below while
rotating anti-clockwise", then it will be a little
harder in 4d. Good luck.
=====
Philippe Caquant
Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intellegor illis (Ovidius).
Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo (Horatius).
Interdum stultus opportune loquitur (Henry Fielding).
Scire leges non hoc est verba earum tenere, sed vim ac potestatem (Somebody).
Melius est ut scandalum oriatur, quam ut veritas relinquatur (Somebody else).
Ceterum censeo *vi* esse oblitterandum (Me).
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