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comment by am_Unition
am_Unition  ·  1400 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: An Obscure Field of Math Might Help Unlock Mysteries of Human Perception

The following are statements that I can't easily confirm, so first things first, tagging Devac. School me good, in any way, if I'm not 100% correct. Either of you.

    Basically whenever you are projecting something that is 3D onto a flat surface or vice versa you are using non-Euclidean geometry.

I don't think this is technically true(?). This is the case if you were to attempt to translate spherical or cylindrical surfaces into 2D projections at the scale of taking a pocketknife to the surface of a globe or donut or drumstick and attempting to flatten it, but there are relatively neat mathematical ways of doing such a thing, handled by the differential path length treatment.

Non-Euclidean geometry arises when path length and topology (space-time, in this instance) are a function of something, e.g. position, and thus the transformation tensors vary from point to point. Frame dragging, gravitational space-time dilation, and the event horizon are all related concepts.

Edit: I think I'm actually incorrect, and that spherical coordinates do seem to violate "Euclideanism", which seems like a dumb formulation anyway. Leaving my original statements, because we can easily reformulate the violations of Euclideanism, like a triangle on a spherical surface with three 90 degree corners, into orthogonal coordinates by imposing a set of conditions, and then we're "Euclidean" once more. This is kinda a waste of time, debating the origins of geometry. Saying that, but acknowledging that I'm spoiled to have been exposed to these ideas casually in my education.





user-inactivated  ·  1400 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
Devac  ·  1400 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Straight, direct line segments marking the shortest distance between two points are a must for Euclidean metric. Strictly speaking, even Taxicab geometry is non-Euclidean.

Odder is right about both commonality of non-Euclidean geometry and 2D<->3D projection. Projecting sphere onto a plane isn't isometric -- doesn't conserve the distances (and areas) translated between geometries. Stating it and doing some arrow maths should be enough to prove the transform itself is non-Euclidean.