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Jos Boersema (josX): There is no such thing as 'non Euclidean math' (1-Oct-2002) |
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Randy Poe >> There is no such thing as 'non Euclidean math', where 'Euclidean' >> stands for reality-math. > >The surface of a sphere is non-Euclidean. We live on it. > >I do non-Euclidean math all the time, and so does every >navigator on earth. If that is all there is not non-Euclidean math, then there would be no problem with it (besides it's name, which should be spherical-plane geometry, but that doesn't sound cool enough probably), however that's not the impression i'm getting. I hear stories about parallel lines crossing for instance, but they can't cross, and they don't exist on spherical planes, because straight lines don't exist on spherical planes. So i figure this whole 'non-euclidian geometry' is simply doing normal geometry on a sphere with a redefinition of words like straight and parallel. The shortest distance between two points doesn't exist on a sphere, it goes beneath the sphere. If you do spherical geometry (lines on a sphere), you are doing 3D geometry, don't forget that, and there is nothing mysterious about it. This non-euclidian thing seems to be a hollow hype to me. Get yourself a balloon and draw on it, now you're doing ""non euclidian geometry"", big deal (not). Then you can project this sphere unto a flat plane, that's fine, i still don't see any magical things or strange things, just basic geometry that can be experimentally verified and curve fitted. -- jos |
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Index Original post and context: ancc2t$ffu$1@news1.xs4all.nl |