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Page t-the Patty CaatgUn-fabniary 22, jjjj
Flatland: An author's look at a fourth dimension
Hat/and
a romance of many dimensions
By the author, A SQUARE (Edwin A.
Abbott)
'Imagine a vast sheet of paper on
which straight Lines, Triangles,
Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons and
other figures, instead of remaining fixed
in their places, move freely about . . .
and you will have a pretty correct notion
of my country and country men.*
So begins Flatland, a. book about
intelligent metrical figure-people in a
Oddities
. by Michael Fitzgerald,
two dimensional land. The Narrator and
protagonist, a Square (Flatland Squares
and Pentagons form the class of pro¬
fessional men and gentlemen, and the
Square narrator is an attorney) begins
his narration by describing the inhabi¬
tants of Flatland.
Women are straight lines. Soldiers
and the lowest class of workmen are
triangles with two equal sides, and a
shorter base or third side: the Isosceles.
The middle class consists of equilateral
Triangles. Above the class of Squares
and Pentagons come the nobility, which
begins with the six-sided Hexagons, and
continues through the honorific state of
Polygon to the Circular or Priestly order,
the highest class of all.
Flatland is in part a social satire of
rigid late-19th century class structures,
and of society's treatment of the 'ir¬
regular figure.'
But mostly the book is about the
fourth dimension. Not the land of Oz,
nor any other imaginary realm, but the
actual fourth dimension, which Einstein
and others were later to show must exist
if certain natural phenomena are to be
accounted for.
Flatland"s author. Or. Edwin A.
Abbott, a brilliant mathematician, con¬
cluded that the world was at least four
dimensional-and his 'theory preceded
Einstein' s by thirty years I
Flatland is Abbott's attempt to ex¬
plain what the nature of the fourth
dimension must be, and, more impor¬
tantly, to account for our perception of
the fourth dimension, given the way we
perceive the third and fourth dimensions
at the point of intersection.
Abbott illustrates this by having his
narrator/protagonist Square chronicle
the visit to Flatland of an extraordinary
being from another dimension: a Sphere.
The way a two-dimensional being,
who can neither rise above nor sink
below his. plane, perceives a three-
dimensional sphere is Abbott's allegory
for the' way we perceive the fourth
dimension.
Picture a sphere intersecting a plane.
When the sphere touches the plane, an
inhabitant of the plane, whose vision was
confined to the plane, would not perceive
the sphere in its entirety, but would only
A.S. ELECTIONS
Here Is Your Chance
To Be Heard
Run For a Senate Position,
Senator at Large,
A.S. Executive Positions,
or For a College Union
Position.
Petitions Available For Office
Seekers During the Week of
Feb 25-29
in Joyal Administration Rm 224
Petitions Due Feb 29 at 5 pm
Elections March 18, 19 & 20
see a circle, that part of the sphere
intersecting the Flatlander's realm.
The fourth dimension is the time-
space continuum where all events past
and future exist in their entirety. What
our limited third dimension perception
attributes to the flow of time is actually
only that part of the time-space con¬
tinuum 'sphere' which is intersecting
-Short- shots—
with the third dimensional 'plane.'
It may be that the path to true Zen, or
perfect grace, lies in freeing ourselves
from the dimensionality which confines
us. If so, Abbott's book is not only the
song of a mathematical poet perceiving
the true nature of our physical reality
years ahead of his fellow man, it is also
a revelation that there is indeed a stair¬
way to Heaven.
Balancing photos
= by Joseph Herkel
BALANCE:
Have you ever looked at a photograph
and had the feeling that it was tipped?
You may have been tempted to tilt your
head at an angle to appreciate the photo
or had the urge to lift up one corner
because you felt it wasn't displayed
straight. If so, the photograph was
probably out of balance.
That is, the picture may have felt
'heavier' on one side than on the other.
It may have appeared that if you placed
the center of the photo on a fulcrum, the
picture would tip to one side or the other.
Balance in a photograph is the result of
the 'visual weight' being equal on both
sides of the fulcrum. If the main subject
is placed on one side of the format and
nothing is on the other side to offset it,
the photograph will be out of balance.
There are two types of balance:
Formal and informal. Formal balance is
.when both sides of the nhoto are given
exactly equal treatment. The left side of
the picture is a mirror image of the right
side. The top half of the photograph is
exactly the same as the bottom half. If a
Dhotosraph is formally balanced, the
viewer only has to look at half of the
picture to see its entirety. Formal
balance is difficult to achieve, and
usually is very mundane and boring.
Informal balance, however, is when an
object on one side of the center is
balanced with a similar object or differ¬
ent objects on the other side that have
the same 'visual weight' as the first
object. Informal balance is always
more interesting to the viewer, because
there is much more to see in the photo¬
graph.
VALUE:
Value is the relationship of light areas
to dark areas in a photograph. No other
element of design probably has as much
emotional effect on the viewer as value.
continued on p~gc 7
Attention all student teachers for Fall,
1980. Anyone interested in doing
their final student teaching in
Reedley, Ca., call Karen at 291-3176.
$20 reward for recovery of gold tone
bracelet. Lost in Lab School area,
maybe women's restroom, Feb. 14.
If found, contact campus police or call
233-0411, evenings for reward.
Wanted—Driver with van to drive dis^
.ibled people to county school for the>i
disability awareness program.
CAPH Service Center 237-2055
^fDttt^JpU.
StOOpm
CSUF
trTColog* Union
:u«.:
ilrtoj
' .
a
ill r.<
...ii;.'
■W.lh.
nfjlilw
ir.rraHu*
jnol ir\;
r.r.i. nsm
.-.buy.
Object Description
| Title | 1980_02 The Daily Collegian February 1980 |
| Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
| Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
| Publication Date | 1980 |
| Description | Daily (except weedends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif.: BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
| Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
| Contributors | Associated Students of Fresno State. |
| Coverage | Vol.1 no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
| Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
| Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
| Language | eng |
Description
| Title | February 22, 1980, Page 6 |
| Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
| Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
| Publication Date | 1980 |
| Description | Daily (except weedends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif.: BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
| Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
| Contributors | Associated Students of Fresno State. |
| Coverage | Vol.1 no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
| Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
| Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
| Language | eng |
| Full-Text-Search | Page t-the Patty CaatgUn-fabniary 22, jjjj Flatland: An author's look at a fourth dimension Hat/and a romance of many dimensions By the author, A SQUARE (Edwin A. Abbott) 'Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about . . . and you will have a pretty correct notion of my country and country men.* So begins Flatland, a. book about intelligent metrical figure-people in a Oddities . by Michael Fitzgerald, two dimensional land. The Narrator and protagonist, a Square (Flatland Squares and Pentagons form the class of pro¬ fessional men and gentlemen, and the Square narrator is an attorney) begins his narration by describing the inhabi¬ tants of Flatland. Women are straight lines. Soldiers and the lowest class of workmen are triangles with two equal sides, and a shorter base or third side: the Isosceles. The middle class consists of equilateral Triangles. Above the class of Squares and Pentagons come the nobility, which begins with the six-sided Hexagons, and continues through the honorific state of Polygon to the Circular or Priestly order, the highest class of all. Flatland is in part a social satire of rigid late-19th century class structures, and of society's treatment of the 'ir¬ regular figure.' But mostly the book is about the fourth dimension. Not the land of Oz, nor any other imaginary realm, but the actual fourth dimension, which Einstein and others were later to show must exist if certain natural phenomena are to be accounted for. Flatland"s author. Or. Edwin A. Abbott, a brilliant mathematician, con¬ cluded that the world was at least four dimensional-and his 'theory preceded Einstein' s by thirty years I Flatland is Abbott's attempt to ex¬ plain what the nature of the fourth dimension must be, and, more impor¬ tantly, to account for our perception of the fourth dimension, given the way we perceive the third and fourth dimensions at the point of intersection. Abbott illustrates this by having his narrator/protagonist Square chronicle the visit to Flatland of an extraordinary being from another dimension: a Sphere. The way a two-dimensional being, who can neither rise above nor sink below his. plane, perceives a three- dimensional sphere is Abbott's allegory for the' way we perceive the fourth dimension. Picture a sphere intersecting a plane. When the sphere touches the plane, an inhabitant of the plane, whose vision was confined to the plane, would not perceive the sphere in its entirety, but would only A.S. ELECTIONS Here Is Your Chance To Be Heard Run For a Senate Position, Senator at Large, A.S. Executive Positions, or For a College Union Position. Petitions Available For Office Seekers During the Week of Feb 25-29 in Joyal Administration Rm 224 Petitions Due Feb 29 at 5 pm Elections March 18, 19 & 20 see a circle, that part of the sphere intersecting the Flatlander's realm. The fourth dimension is the time- space continuum where all events past and future exist in their entirety. What our limited third dimension perception attributes to the flow of time is actually only that part of the time-space con¬ tinuum 'sphere' which is intersecting -Short- shots— with the third dimensional 'plane.' It may be that the path to true Zen, or perfect grace, lies in freeing ourselves from the dimensionality which confines us. If so, Abbott's book is not only the song of a mathematical poet perceiving the true nature of our physical reality years ahead of his fellow man, it is also a revelation that there is indeed a stair¬ way to Heaven. Balancing photos = by Joseph Herkel BALANCE: Have you ever looked at a photograph and had the feeling that it was tipped? You may have been tempted to tilt your head at an angle to appreciate the photo or had the urge to lift up one corner because you felt it wasn't displayed straight. If so, the photograph was probably out of balance. That is, the picture may have felt 'heavier' on one side than on the other. It may have appeared that if you placed the center of the photo on a fulcrum, the picture would tip to one side or the other. Balance in a photograph is the result of the 'visual weight' being equal on both sides of the fulcrum. If the main subject is placed on one side of the format and nothing is on the other side to offset it, the photograph will be out of balance. There are two types of balance: Formal and informal. Formal balance is .when both sides of the nhoto are given exactly equal treatment. The left side of the picture is a mirror image of the right side. The top half of the photograph is exactly the same as the bottom half. If a Dhotosraph is formally balanced, the viewer only has to look at half of the picture to see its entirety. Formal balance is difficult to achieve, and usually is very mundane and boring. Informal balance, however, is when an object on one side of the center is balanced with a similar object or differ¬ ent objects on the other side that have the same 'visual weight' as the first object. Informal balance is always more interesting to the viewer, because there is much more to see in the photo¬ graph. VALUE: Value is the relationship of light areas to dark areas in a photograph. No other element of design probably has as much emotional effect on the viewer as value. continued on p~gc 7 Attention all student teachers for Fall, 1980. Anyone interested in doing their final student teaching in Reedley, Ca., call Karen at 291-3176. $20 reward for recovery of gold tone bracelet. Lost in Lab School area, maybe women's restroom, Feb. 14. If found, contact campus police or call 233-0411, evenings for reward. Wanted—Driver with van to drive dis^ .ibled people to county school for the>i disability awareness program. CAPH Service Center 237-2055 ^fDttt^JpU. StOOpm CSUF trTColog* Union :u«.: ilrtoj ' . a ill r.< ...ii;.' ■W.lh. nfjlilw ir.rraHu* jnol ir\; r.r.i. nsm .-.buy. |
