How is a tesseract a 4D shape when it can be drawn in 3D space?

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A tesseract can be represented in normal 3D space, but it’s labelled a 4D object – why is this?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Analogous question: How is a sphere a 3D shape when it can be represented in 2D space?

The key is the word *represented*. [Here’s a sphere](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Sphere_wireframe_10deg_6r.svg/1200px-Sphere_wireframe_10deg_6r.svg.png), which can be represented just fine in 2D space. But that’s the thing: it’s a *2D* ***representation***, not an actual sphere! You can’t pick it up and hold it, roll it, or kick it down the road. A 2D representation can look like a sphere, but having the properties of actually *being* a sphere requires 3D.

It’s the same with your question. Yes a tesseract can be *represented* in normal 3D space, but that representation you have seen *is not an actual tesseract*, the same way that a flat image of a sphere is not actually a sphere. Being an actual tesseract requires a 4D object.

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