Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Flatland with Notes and Commentary
- Part I This World
- Part II Other Worlds
- 13 How I had a Vision of Lineland
- 14 How in my Vision I endeavoured to explain the nature of Flatland, but could not
- 15 Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland
- 16 How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me in words the mysteries of Spaceland
- 17 How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to deeds
- 18 How I came to Spaceland, and what I saw there
- 19 How, though the Sphere showed me other mysteries of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it
- 20 How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision
- 21 How I tried to teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandson, and with what success
- 22 How I then tried to diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and of the result
- Epilogue by the Editor
- Continued Notes
- Appendix A Critical Reaction to Flatland
- Appendix B The Life and Work of Edwin Abbott Abbott
- Recommended Reading
- References
- Index of Defined Words
- Index
15 - Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Flatland with Notes and Commentary
- Part I This World
- Part II Other Worlds
- 13 How I had a Vision of Lineland
- 14 How in my Vision I endeavoured to explain the nature of Flatland, but could not
- 15 Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland
- 16 How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me in words the mysteries of Spaceland
- 17 How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to deeds
- 18 How I came to Spaceland, and what I saw there
- 19 How, though the Sphere showed me other mysteries of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it
- 20 How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision
- 21 How I tried to teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandson, and with what success
- 22 How I then tried to diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and of the result
- Epilogue by the Editor
- Continued Notes
- Appendix A Critical Reaction to Flatland
- Appendix B The Life and Work of Edwin Abbott Abbott
- Recommended Reading
- References
- Index of Defined Words
- Index
Summary
From dreams I proceed to facts.
It was the last day of the 1999th year of our era. The pattering of the rain had long ago announced nightfall; and I was sitting in the company of my wife, musing on the events of the past and the prospects of the coming year, the coming century, the coming Millennium.
My four Sons and two orphan Grandchildren had retired to their several apartments; and my Wife alone remained with me to see the old Millennium out and the new one in.
I was rapt in thought, pondering in my mind some words that had casually issued from the mouth of my youngest Grandson, a most promising young Hexagon of unusual brilliancy and perfect angularity. His uncles and I had been giving him his usual practical lesson in Sight Recognition, turning ourselves upon our centres, now rapidly, now more slowly, and questioning him as to our positions; and his answers had been so satisfactory that I had been induced to reward him by giving him a few hints on Arithmetic as applied to Geometry.
Taking nine Squares, each an inch every way, I had put them together so as to make one large Square, with a side of three inches, and I had hence proved to my little Grandson that – though it was impossible for us to see the inside of the Square – yet we might ascertain the number of square inches in a Square by simply squaring the number of inches in the side: “and thus,” said I, “we know that 32, or 9, represents the number of square inches in a Square whose side is 3 inches long.”
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- Chapter
- Information
- FlatlandAn Edition with Notes and Commentary, pp. 138 - 145Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009