berkan Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 A sphere has _____ side(s). Fill in the blank, thats all. a) one b) no c) infinate d) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaKiri Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 All of the above, depending on how you interpret it. C is the usual interpretation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 Look here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ydoaPs Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 What kind of sphere are you talking about. It doesn't matter. I would say B or C depending on how you interpret it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 Huh? There's only one 'type' of sphere, if you can even call it that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ydoaPs Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 No, there are zero-spheres, one-spheres, and two-spheres. How could the mathematics moderator not know that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 Probably because I'm not a great fan of topology/geometry. I'm not infallible you know, and I certainly don't claim to know everything about spheres. I try my best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesseract Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 Well, I choose D, i have no idea, and neither is it important in any way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayonara Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 I thought we established it was 0 or 1 in the other thread. You know, the thread that was locked because we'd finished with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesseract Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 I thought we established it was 0 or 1 in the other thread. You know' date=' the thread that was locked because we'd finished with it.[/quote'] Then I change my answer to the established conclusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaKiri Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 I thought we established it was 0 or 1 in the other thread. You know' date=' the thread that was locked because we'd finished with it.[/quote'] It depends how you define 'side'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayonara Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 Yeah, that sort of came up. Lots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berkan Posted July 17, 2004 Author Share Posted July 17, 2004 1) How can something have NO sides? Everything we see must have sides, to reflect light, right? 2) How can something have infinite sides? The fact that it fits in your hand proves that a sphere can't have infinite sides, right? 3) How can a sphere have one side? For it to have one side it must be a part of one plane, right? *) Since a perfect circle is impossible, hence so is a perfect sphere. This is my conclusion: A sphere has numerous (thousands if not millions of) sides that vary along with its perfection. I know this wasn't included in my multiple-choice question; therefore I would like to add this one. I'm open to any NEW ideas. e) Numerous (not determinable) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayonara Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 1) How can something have NO sides? Everything we see must have sides, to reflect light, [i']right?[/i] Don't confuse "side" with "surface". 2) How can something have infinite sides? The fact that it fits in your hand proves that a sphere can't have infinite sides, right? People for some reason 'decided' that the angle between any two radii of a sphere can be halved without limit, and therefore that the arc described by the distance between the radii at the surface of the sphere had an infinite number of possible locations. My argument was that such a construct would be a mesh, not a sphere. 3) How can a sphere have one side? For it to have one side it must be a part of one plane, right? The only reason I could find for the "1 side" argument was from the dictionary definitions, which isn't great reasoning. *) Since a perfect circle is impossible, hence so is a perfect sphere. This is my conclusion: A sphere has numerous (thousands if not millions of) sides that vary along with its perfection. I know this wasn't included in my multiple-choice question; therefore I would like to add this one. I'm open to any NEW ideas.e) Numerous (not determinable) A "side" is the extrusion between two vertices. Spheres don't have vertices unless you artificially and arbitrarily apply them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berkan Posted July 17, 2004 Author Share Posted July 17, 2004 I'm curious, how do you support your claim (whatever that may be)? 1 side or 0 sides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloodhound Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 My argument was that such a construct would be a mesh' date=' not a sphere.[/quote'] like i said in the other thread, i consider a sphere to be a limiting form of this mesh. we have to define what we mean by side as well. can everyone here please write down what they think a side is.(of a 3 dimensional object of course) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berkan Posted July 17, 2004 Author Share Posted July 17, 2004 I myself want a good definition of "side", and how it defers from "surface". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesseract Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 I think that the sphere has one side since the definition of a side is: Mathematics 1. A line bounding a plane figure. 2. A surface bounding a solid figure. Since a sphere has a one surface it has one side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesseract Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 I myself want a good definition of "side", and how it defers from "surface[/i']". a surface is : 1.The boundary of a three-dimensional figure. 2.The two-dimensional locus of points located in three-dimensional space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayonara Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 I'm curious' date=' how do you support your claim (whatever that may be)?[u']1 side[/u] or 0 sides Read the other thread, then this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfson Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 Sometimes we think of sides as having to be flat - what mathematicians call "faces" of a polyhedron. In that sense, a sphere has no sides (though some people will try to convince you that it has infinitely many sides). I think the most applicable definition is the one used in topology. We talk about surfaces with two sides (like a piece of paper) and surfaces with only one side (like the Moebius strip you may have heard of). In this sense, and remembering that mathematicians define a sphere as the surface of a sphere, not a solid ball, I would say that a sphere has two sides: the outside and the inside. (ref: Dr P. APP) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ydoaPs Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 I thought sides had to be flat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloodhound Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 depends what space ur working in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayonara Posted July 17, 2004 Share Posted July 17, 2004 So, to summarise: We can make arguments for 0, 1 or 2 depending on the definitions we are using, but no good argument for "infinite". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted July 18, 2004 Share Posted July 18, 2004 I think that this topic has been completely exhausted. It's all a matter of definition, which personally I find rather dull. But anyway, does anyone have anything fresh to add to the topic? Otherwise, I'd rather just close it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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