Hacker News Reader

> In fact, they’re moving in circles in 4 dimensions. But when these circles are projected down to 3-dimensional space, they become ellipses!

Um, no. They are moving in 3 dimensions and when they are projected down to 2-dimensional space they become ellipses.

View on HN

I think you missed the point. Planets orbit in ellipses in the regular, 3D world.

Are we talking about "orbiting in elliptical paths" or "planets are ellipses"? In regular Height-Width-Depth (3D) space (excluding time) the plants are circling in ellipses. In only Height-Width (2D) space plants are flat circles and when projected onto a plane produce an elliptical path. So why the downvote?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com