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Flatterland
''Flatterland'' is a 2001 book written by mathematician and science popularizer Ian Stewart about non-Euclidean geometry. It was written as a sequel to ''Flatland'', an 1884 novel that discussed different dimensions. Plot summary Almost 100 years after A. (which we find out stands for Albert) Square's adventures that were related in ''Flatland'', his great-great-granddaughter, Victoria Line (Vikki), finds a copy of his book in her basement. This prompts her to invite a sphere from Spaceland to visit her, but instead she is visited by the "Space Hopper" (a character looking somewhat like the "Space Hopper" children's toy with a gigantic grin, horns and a spherical body). The Space Hopper, more than being able to move between Flatland and Spaceland, can travel to any space in the ''Mathiverse'', a set of all imaginable worlds. After showing Vikki higher dimensions, he begins showing her more modern theories, such as fractional dimensions and dimensions with isolated points. Top ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Hopper
A space hopper (also known as a moon hopper, skippyball, kangaroo ball, bouncer, hippity hop, hoppity hop, sit and bounce, or hop ball) is a rubber ball (similar to an exercise ball) with handles which allow one to sit on it without falling off. The user can attempt to hop around on the toy, using the elastic properties of the ball to move forward. The term "space hopper" is more common in the United Kingdom; the toy is less familiar in the United States, and may be known as a "hoppity hop", "hippity hop" or a "sit n bounce". A similar toy popular in the United States in the 1980s was the pogo ball, which has a hard plastic ring encircling the ball instead of a handle. Use The space hopper is a heavy rubber ball about in diameter, with two rubber handles protruding from the top. A valve at the top allows the ball to be inflated by a bicycle pump or car tire pump. A child can sit on top, holding the two handles, and bounce up and down until the ball leaves the ground. By leanin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-Euclidean Geometry
In mathematics, non-Euclidean geometry consists of two geometries based on axioms closely related to those that specify Euclidean geometry. As Euclidean geometry lies at the intersection of metric geometry and affine geometry, non-Euclidean geometry arises by either replacing the parallel postulate with an alternative, or relaxing the metric requirement. In the former case, one obtains hyperbolic geometry and elliptic geometry, the traditional non-Euclidean geometries. When the metric requirement is relaxed, then there are affine planes associated with the planar algebras, which give rise to kinematic geometries that have also been called non-Euclidean geometry. The essential difference between the metric geometries is the nature of parallel lines. Euclid's fifth postulate, the parallel postulate, is equivalent to Playfair's postulate, which states that, within a two-dimensional plane, for any given line and a point ''A'', which is not on , there is exactly one line through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Stewart (mathematician)
Ian Nicholas Stewart (born 24 September 1945) is a British mathematician and a popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick, England. Education and early life Stewart was born in 1945 in Folkestone, England. While in the sixth form at Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone he came to the attention of the mathematics teacher. The teacher had Stewart sit mock A-level examinations without any preparation along with the upper-sixth students; Stewart was placed first in the examination. He was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge as an undergraduate student of Churchill College, Cambridge, where he studied the Mathematical Tripos and obtained a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics in 1966. Stewart then went to the University of Warwick where his PhD on Lie algebras was supervised by Brian Hartley and completed in 1969. Career and research After his PhD, Stewart was offered an a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flatland
''Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions'' is a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. of London. Written pseudonymously by "A Square", the book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to comment on the hierarchy of Victorian culture, but the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions. Several films have been made from the story, including the feature film ''Flatland'' (2007). Other efforts have been short or experimental films, including one narrated by Dudley Moore and the short films '' Flatland: The Movie'' (2007) and '' Flatland 2: Sphereland'' (2012). Plot The story describes a two-dimensional world occupied by geometric figures; women are simple line segments, while men are polygons with various numbers of sides. The narrator is a square, a member of the caste of gentlemen and professionals, who guides the readers through some of the implications of life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EastEnders
''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the programme follows the stories of local residents and their families as they go about their daily lives. Within eight months of the show's original launch, it had reached the number one spot in Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, BARB's television ratings and has consistently remained among the top-rated series in Britain. Four ''EastEnders'' episodes are listed in the all-time top 10 List of most watched television broadcasts in the United Kingdom#Most watched programmes, most-watched programmes in the UK, including the number one spot when over 30 million watched the 1986 Christmas Day episode. ''EastEnders'' has been EastEnders in popular culture, important in the history of British television drama, tackling many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Square
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. It is the primary setting for the soap. ''EastEnders'' is filmed at Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, towards the north-west of London. Much of the location work is filmed in nearby Watford, which was chosen for many of the exterior scenes due to its close proximity and the town's name being so similar to Walford. Thus, any stray road signs or advertising boards which are accidentally filmed in the back of shots will appear to read Walford. Locations used in Watford include most interior and exterior church scenes of various churches, the snooker club, the County Court and Magistrates' Courts courtrooms, and the cemetery (where most of the deceased characters are interred). The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where one of the series' creators, Tony Holland, lived and a blend of Walthamstow, where Holland was born, and Stratford. The suffix 'ford' is also found throughout Britain, for examp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Underground has its origins in the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground passenger railway. Opened on 10 January 1863, it is now part of the Circle line (London Underground), Circle, District line, District, Hammersmith & City line, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. The first line to operate underground electric locomotive, electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in 1890, is now part of the Northern line. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2020/21 was used for 296 million passenger journeys, making it List of metro systems, one of the world's busiest metro systems. The 11 lines collectively handle up to 5 million passenger journeys a day and serve 272 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jubilee Line
The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some sections of track date back to 1932 and some stations to 1879. The western section between and was previously a branch of the Metropolitan line and later the Bakerloo line, while the newly built line was completed in two major sections: initially in 1979 to , then in 1999 with an extension to Stratford. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects being attempts to future-proof the line. Following the extension to east London, serving areas once poorly connected to the Underground, the line has seen a huge growth in passenger numbers and is the third-busiest on the network (after the Northern and Central lines), with over 213 million passenger journeys in 2011/12. Between and the Jubilee line shares its r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time Travel
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a widely recognized concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. The idea of a time machine was popularized by H. G. Wells' 1895 novel ''The Time Machine''. It is uncertain if time travel to the past is physically possible, and such travel, if at all feasible, may give rise to questions of causality. Forward time travel, outside the usual sense of the perception of time, is an extensively observed phenomenon and well-understood within the framework of special relativity and general relativity. However, making one body advance or delay more than a few milliseconds compared to another body is not feasible with current technology. As for backward time travel, it is possible to find solutions in general relativity that allow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable residences in the 18th century. In the 20th it had an American and Canadian diplomatic presence, and currently is mixed use, commercial. History Sir Richard Grosvenor obtained a licence to develop Grosvenor Square and the surrounding streets in 1710, and development took place between 1725 and 1731. The land was sold in individual plots, with 30 different builders or partnerships taking a lease; about half of these had become bankrupt by 1738. Grosvenor Square was one of the three or four most fashionable residential addresses in London from its construction until the Second World War, with numerous leading members of the aristocracy in residence. The early houses were generally of five or seven bays, with basement, three main stories a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Line
The Victoria line is a London Underground line that runs between in south London and in the north-east, via the West End. It is printed in light blue on the Tube map and is one of the only two lines on the network to run completely underground, the other being the Waterloo & City line. The line was constructed in the 1960s and was the first entirely new Underground line in London for 50 years. It was designed to reduce congestion on other lines, particularly the Piccadilly line and the branch of the Northern line. The first section, from Walthamstow Central to , opened in September 1968 and an extension to followed in December. The line was completed to Victoria station in March 1969 and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II who rode a train from Green Park to Victoria. The southern extension to Brixton opened in 1971, and Pimlico station was added in 1972. The Victoria line is operated using automatic train operation, but all trains have drivers. The 2009 Tube Stock rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawking Radiation
Hawking radiation is theoretical black body radiation that is theorized to be released outside a black hole's event horizon because of relativistic quantum effects. It is named after the physicist Stephen Hawking, who developed a theoretical argument for its existence in 1974. Hawking radiation is a purely kinematic effect that is generic to Lorentzian geometries containing event horizons or local apparent horizons. Hawking radiation reduces the mass and rotational energy of black holes and is therefore also theorized to cause black hole evaporation. Because of this, black holes that do not gain mass through other means are expected to shrink and ultimately vanish. For all except the smallest black holes, this would happen extremely slowly. The radiation temperature is inversely proportional to the black hole's mass, so micro black holes are predicted to be larger emitters of radiation than larger black holes and should dissipate faster. Overview Black holes are astrophysica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
