Math Questions (as in "please do this math for me...")

[BillyJoe]

69dodge,

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BillyJoe

We are in outer space so as to eliminate visual clues. And here you are floating in space. You cannot see any part of your body - again to eliminate visual clues. All you can see is a 10cm X 10cm sheet of paper. Nothing else changes except that suddenly you are dramatically reduced in size by a facor of, say, 10.

Now, are you really telling me you won't notice any difference?

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69dodge

Yes.

Yes, I can see that now.

For it not to be immediately obvious that something had happened, the shrinkage would have to be centred on the focal point of the eye. In other words, the position of the eye's focal point relative to the cardboard must remain unchanged, otherwise it would be immediately obvious that something had happened.

Okay, in these circumstances, the eye shrinks by a factor of 10 but the angle of view remains the same. And the combination of the angle of view not changing and the relative position of the focal point not changing means that the visual field doesn't change. And, therefore, I would not notice any difference.

Is that about it?

thanks,
BillyJoe

 

[69dodge]

Originally posted by ceptimus
the question asked here would be more like going ONE mile in a giant, ordinary speed car, in an ordinary size world.

I don't follow you. How does the giant car fit on a regular road?

Basically, what I'm saying is this: me shrinking while my eyes remain the same distance from things is the same as the entire world growing including the distance of things from my eyes. I wouldn't notice the former only under the same conditions that I wouldn't notice the latter (those conditions being a lack of cues relating things' size to my own size).

 

[BillyJoe]

69dodge,

Basically, what I'm saying is this: me shrinking while my eyes remain the same distance from things is the same as the entire world growing including the distance of things from my eyes. I wouldn't notice the former only under the same conditions that I wouldn't notice the latter (those conditions being a lack of cues relating things' size to my own size).

Ah, and now I understand why these situations are the same. It's me versus the world. In the first case it is me who shrinks. In the second case, it is the world that grows - the whole world not just that piece of cardboard.

thanks again,
BillyJoe