• Question: what does Hypergeometrymean

    Asked by terimater2 to Aime, Akshat, Diana, Gemma, Judith on 13 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Aimé Fournier

      Aimé Fournier answered on 9 Jun 2011:

      I don’t know but I bet it means geometry in dimensions greater than 3. For example, to study the shape of the universe on intergalactic scales you need to think of space-time as a 4-dimensional geometry. Or, if you are trying to solve a problem with N simultaneous unknowns then you could use N-dimensional geometry. A solid body has N=5 variables: its location (so far east, north and up) and its orientation (two angles about its center).

    • Photo: Judith McCann

      Judith McCann answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      aimes spot on, i don’t do maths but i really like Asimov books (science fiction writer)

    • Photo: Diana Samuel

      Diana Samuel answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Likewise, I think it refers to multiple geometries.

    • Photo: Gemma Sharp

      Gemma Sharp answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      To be honest, I had no idea what this meant when you asked the question, but thanks for asking it because I’ve looked it up and it’s really interesting (if a little confusing). As far as I can tell Aimé is definitely right!

      Bit of procrastination this afternoon instead of doing my project, but it’s good to learn things outside your own field 😉

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