2
$\begingroup$

It was established by TMA, @WillSawin, and @DouglasZare, in their responses to the MO question, "Thales' semicircle theorem in higher dimensions," that the natural generalization of Thales' semicircle theorem to $\mathbb{R}^3$ is false.

Q. Is there any natural measure/quantity that is preserved as a point $p$ varies over a unit hemisphere centered at $o$, and somehow projects a geometric figure on the base unit circle of the hemisphere?

It is a bit surprising to me that the straightforward generalizations fail. One obvious and useless answer to Q is that $||p-o||=1$. Perhaps Q is unanswerable, but I have the sense that something more substantive than the radius should be preserved...

$\endgroup$
2
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ You might prefer an alternate question even in just 3 dimensions: given a region R and quantity q, say contained in some planar polygon, what is the locus of points in space from which region R subtends a solid angle of measure q? $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 29, 2015 at 0:08
  • $\begingroup$ @TheMaskedAvenger: Beautiful question!! Would be a nice independent MO question, if you care to pose it. Seems original as far as I know. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 29, 2015 at 0:28

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .