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Flatland

After a long pause he muttered to himself, 'One resource alone remains, if I am not to resort to action. I must try the method of Analogy.' Then followed a still longer silence after which he continued our dialogue.

SPHERE. Tell me, Mr Mathematician; if a Point moves Northward, and leaves a luminous wake, what name would you give to the wake?

I. A straight Line.

SPHERE. And a straight Line has how many extremities?

I. Two.

SPHERE. Now conceive the Northwards straight Line moving parallel to itself, East and West, so that every point in it leaves behind it the wake of a straight Line. What name will you give to the Figure thereby formes? We will suppose that it moves through a distance equal to the original straight Line. - what name, I say?

I. A Square.

SPHERE. And how many sides has a Square? How many angles?

I. Four sides and four angles.

SPHERE. Now stretch your imagination a little, and conceive a Square in Flatland, moving parallel to itself upwards.

I. What? Northwards?

SPHERE. No, not Northwards; upwards, out of Flatland altogether.

If it moved Northwards, the Southern points in the Square would have to move through the positions previously occupied by the Northern points. But that's not my meaning.

I mean that every Point in you - for you are a Square and will serve the purpose of my illustration - every Point in you, that is to say in what you call your inside, is to pass upwards through Space in such a way that no Point shall pass through the position previously occupied by any other Point; but each Point shall describe a straight Line of its own. This is all in accordance with Analogy; surely it must be clear to you.

Restraining my impatience - for I was now under a strong temptation to rush blindly at my Visitor and to precipitate him into Space, or out of Flatland, anywhere, so that I could get rid of him - I replied:-

'And what may be the nature of the Figure which I am to shape out by this motion which you are pleased to denote by the word "upwards"? I presume it is describable in the language of Flatland.'

SPHERE. Oh, certainly. It is all plain and simple, and in strict accordance of the result as being a Figure, but as a Solid. But I will describe it to you. Or rather not I, but Analogy.

We began with a single Point, which of course - being itself a Point - has only one terminal Point. One Point produces a Line with two terminal Points.One Line produces a Square with four terminal Points. Now you can give yourself the answer to your own question: 1, 2, 4, are evidently in Geometrical Progression. What is the next number?

I. Eight.

SPHERE. Exactly. The one Square produces a Something-which-you-do-not-as-yet-know-a-name-for-but-which-we-call-a-Cube with eight terminal Points. Now are you convinced?

I. And has this Creature sides, as well as angles or what you call 'terminal Points'?

SPHERE. Of course; and all according to Analogy. But, by the way, not what you call sides, but what we call sides. You would call them solids.

I. And how many solids or sides will appertain to this Being whom I am to generate by motion of my inside in an 'upwards' direction, and whom you call a Cube?'

SPHERE. How can you ask? And you a mathematician! The side of anything is always, If I may so say, one Dimension behind the thing. Consequently, as there is no Dimension behind a Point, a Point has 0 sides; a Line, if I may say, has 2 sides ( for the Points of a Line may be called by courtesy, its sides); a Square has 4 sides; 0, 2, 4; what Progression do you call that?

I. Arithmetical.

SPHERE. And what is the next number?

I. Six.

SPHERE. Exactly. Then you see you have answered your own question. The Cube which you will generate will be bounded by six sides, that is to say, six of your insides. You see it all now, eh?

'Monster,' I shrieked, 'be thou juggler, enchanter, dream, or devil, no more will I endure thy mockeries. Either thou or I must perish.' And saying these words I precipitated myself upon him.

When I read in slashdot that Flatterland had just come out, I figured I should read Flatland first. It was quite a delightful but really odd little novel. There are really well-crafted sections that make fun of the Victorian society speculations of the universe. This is a short but fascinating read.