Things To Think About

Here are a couple of things to think about.

If there is a two-dimensional square, and we add another dimension to it, then it is called a cube. If there is a two-dimensional circle, and we add another dimension to it, then it is called a sphere. But what if there is a two-dimensional rectangle, with two unequal pairs of sides, and we add another dimension to it, what is it called? We might just call it a "box" but it doesn't have a real mathematical name.

The United Nations recently updated the generally-accepted map of the world. But why do we habitually put north at the top on maps? South should be at the top, based on the moon. Whenever you see a lunar or solar eclipse you can see that the moon moves leftward, from right to left. We know that the earth rotates eastward and the moon orbits the earth in the same direction. So the moon moves leftward and eastward. For east to be to the left we have to be facing south. Therefore south should be at the top on maps. Maps with north at the top are accurate only if we are looking at the earth from above the orbit of the moon. I have written about this here before but noticed it only recently.

Image from Google Earth. The moon moves according to the red arrow. During an eclipse we can see that the moon is moving leftward. This means that south should be at the top on maps.