The Fourth Dimension

[mathman]

Einstein described one more dimension, he called it 'time'. However, given the fact that 'time' is something made up by man to measure change, I tend to dislike the concept of 'time' as the fourth dimension. Why?
Because if you are working in two dimensions, then you can consider time as the third dimension....

There are more dimensions out there than those we can perceive, in fact, a very famous theory indicates that there might be as much as 11 dimensions. One of them can be considered to be time.

Your input?

[Unregistered]

test of forum

[Unregistered]

Yeah, you're right "if you are working in two dimensions, then you can consider time as the third dimension...." The number of dimensions you are using when doing mathematical calculations is completely arbitrary. Our minds perceive the world in 3 dimensions, though; that's why time is commonly slotted in the 4 spot.

Many physics textbooks however introduce concepts of relativity in one-dimensional space, with time being the 2nd dimension.

Saying "'time' is something made up by man to measure change," you could also say that space is a man-made concept to measure the separation of objects, or something like that. Any concept is in some sense "man-made" i suppose; the important thing is how useful is it within our daily lives. Both space and time seem to be considered fairly useful concepts to most people, so that explains why we tend to think about things in those terms...