4D Maze
How to play
Drag the spherical slider along the tubes to reach the cubical goal.
Ana and kata
The English language has always had words describing the first three dimensions. In the 1880s Charles Hinton introduced the Greek words ana and kata to refer to the positive and negative directions in the fourth dimension:
1st dimension: backward / forward
2nd dimension: left / right
3rd dimension: down / up
4th dimension: kata / ana
What the colors mean
4D Maze represents each point's first three dimensions in the usual way, while using color to represent the fourth dimension. The kata-most points are colored red, the ana-most points are colored violet, and all intermediate points are colored with the intermediate colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet).
Tubes with negative (red), zero (green) and positive (violet) height in the fourth dimension
A tube that runs directly into the fourth dimension — perpendicular to our usual 3D space — looks to our eyes like a single point that runs through a spectrum of colors.
A “rainbow tube” running straight into the fourth dimension
Superimposed points
Tubes that sit directly “over” each other in the fourth dimension should, in principle, appear perfectly superimposed in the maze, differing only in their color. However, perfectly superimposed tubes would be impossible to see clearly, so 4D Maze nudges them slightly apart (see first image in previous section). Similarly, a “rainbow tube” running straight into the fourth dimension (second image in previous section) should, in principle, appear as a single point in the maze, but again 4D Maze nudges its endpoints slightly apart for easier visibility.
4D connections
While solving a maze, you can move the slider from a red tube to a violet tube only if a rainbow tube connects them (left image below). Otherwise you cannot move the slider from the red tube to the violet tube because they sit far apart in 4D space, with no path connecting them (right image below). Visually, the difference can be subtle, so look carefully for that rainbow connecting tube!
A “rainbow tube” connects the red tube to the violet tube The red tube and the violet tube are not connected

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© 2018 by Jeff Weeks