“PARALLEL” world should be “ORTHOGONAL” world

August 13-14, 2019
Kazuchika Ohta

If someone knows the correct English word, please teach me it. In the SF novels, what word do you use for the phenomenon?
When you stand on the 3-dimensional world, you cannot see the other 2-dimensional world orthogonal to your living 3-dimensional world. In this case, what word do you use in the SF novels?
Lost World? Invisible World? Parallel World?

I have further searched the proper word in the web. I found that “Parallel world” has been employed in the SF novels. However, I am still a little bit confused.

From the viewpoint of linear algebra, the word “parallel” may be not suitable. For example, a vector space is divided into two subspaces and the 3D subspace is “orthogonal” to the other 2D subspace. In this vector space, when you stand on the 3-dimensional world, you cannot see the other 2-dimensional world. Accordingly, I think “PARALLEL” world should be “ORTHOGONAL” world. Why many authors of SF novels employ the world “parallel”?

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