As a satire, Flatland offered pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 science fiction novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott.

If the cube hits flatland face first, then the Flatlanders will see a square appear, then remain for a while, and then disappear. The narrator immediately starts the book with an analogy to help the reader compare the paper. One way to show a three-dimensional cube to a Flatlander is to let the cube pass through the plane of Flatland and see the sequence of shapes that it produces. But how do we interpret these images? In his introduction, Thomas Banchoff points out that there is no better way to begin exploring the problem of understanding higher-dimensional slicing phenomena than reading this classic novel of the Victorian era. LibriVox recording of Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by Edwin Abbott Abbott. A Square, the narrator and protagonist, opens the book with Part I by introducing his readers to his world of Flatland, which he likens to a sheet of paper on which straight lines, triangles, squares, pentagons, and other figures roam about. We can now manipulate objects in four dimensions and observe their three-dimensional slices tumbling on the computer screen. This field, which literally makes higher dimensions seeable, has aroused a new interest in visualization.

By imagining the contact of beings from different dimensions, the author fully exploited the power of the analogy between the limitations of humans and those of his two-dimensional characters.Ī first-rate fictional guide to the concept of multiple dimensions of space, the book will also appeal to those who are interested in computer graphics. Now there’s a sequel called Flatland 2: Sphereland, which expands the story into. Since then Flatland has fascinated generations of readers, becoming a perennial science-fiction favorite. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. In 2007, Flatland was made into an animated movie with the voices of Martin Sheen, Kristen Bell and Michael York. In 1884, Edwin Abbott Abbott wrote a mathematical adventure set in a two-dimensional plane world, populated by a hierarchical society of regular geometrical figures-who think and speak and have all too human emotions.

Flatland dimensions