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Re: mirrors in D-space



On Fri, 4 Aug 2000, John S. Denker wrote:

At 04:02 PM 8/4/00 -0500, Jack Uretsky wrote:
There can only be one inversion in 3-space

...

because two co-ordinates determine a plane and the "handednedness"
of the co-ordinate system is determined by the orientation of
the 3rd co-ordinate.

Depending on how one parses the sentence, that's narrowly true, but it can
easily be misinterpreted. Two-dimensional creatures in Flatland can
exhibit handedness, so "the 3rd co-ordinate" can't be the general
definition of what determines handedness.
Ahh, yes. A right-handed vortex in flatland is different from
a left-handed vortex, and there is no "continuous" transformation from
one to the other.
Also, there is no way for a Flatlander in one Flatland to
tell a Flatlander in a different Flatland which way a vortex is rotating!
Regards,
Jack