Talk:Inverted World

Title?
I believe the novel's title should be "Inverted World", not "The Inverted World". Althought the edition whose cover illustrates the article includes the definite article, other editions do not. In addition, the author's own website lists the book as "Inverted World". ChrisMalme (talk) 11:38, 25 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Done. The Hugo Awards, BSFA Awards, etc. all agree on no "The". Clarityfiend (talk) 01:23, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Sorry - still not correct. The novel is called "Inverted World", and the novella "The Inverted World". Am I disagreeing with The Hugo Awards, BSFA Awards, etc.? But I have both works in front of me right now, and they are absolutely clear about the differing forms of title. I have noted over the years that many, many sources, including reputable, trusted ones, are often a bit sloppy over things like whether a definite article is in a title or not (they tend to drop it, even when it's clearly there).

And also, the novel is not expanded from the novella, but a rather different work simply set on the same (or a similar) world. I just pulled out both novella and novel to read again after many years, and, after I've finished, I might see if I can correct references to the relationship between the two - unless someone slaps me down for "original research". But I believe it's misleading to consider one simply an expansion of the other. M.J.E. (talk) 06:00, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

Speed correct?
Is the speed of the city listed in the article, 0.1 MPH, correct and stated in the book? I have not read it, but if the protagonist is an adult at 650 miles, that would make him almost 271 days old. This could be due to some sort of time warp effect I don't know about, but a speed of 0.1 miles per day would make him almost 18 at 650 miles; an age more consistent with adulthood. --CrinklyCrunk (talk) 17:59, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm the one who added that detail. I think you're right, but I don't have the book. I'll have to order it from the library to check, so in the meantime I've commented it out. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:03, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
 * At the start of chapter 5, it says it takes ten days to move a mile. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:27, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Tractricoid vs. hyperboloid
I recently finished reading this book and it turns out this article gets the shape of the world wrong, sort of.

The book uses the word “hyperboloid”, not “tractricoid”, to describe the alleged shape of the planet the city is on. It’s described as the surface of revolution obtained by rotating a rectangular hyperbola around one of its asymptotes.

This is actually different from the usual mathematical meaning of the term hyperboloid, which means a surface obtained by rotating a hyperbola around an axis, not an asymptote. (There are two different kinds, with two sheets or one, depending on which axis is chosen).

The surface described in the book is actually the same as Gabriel's horn, except that the domain is unrestricted, and it becomes infinitely wide at the “equator”. I suppose we could call it an asymptotic hyperboloid, or even Priest’s hyperboloid. While it somewhat resembles a tractricoid, it does not have constant curvature (though it is everywhere negative nonetheless).

When Helward Mann goes “down past”, what he sees is more consistent with this shape than with a tractricoid. To him it seems like the world diverges to infinity becoming progressively flatter as it goes on. With a tractricoid it would just suddenly end at some point, and this doesn’t seem to be the case to him.

Some of the characters also speculate that in the other (antipodal) half of the world, the ground would move away from the equator rather than toward it. Of course, there is no way they could possibly verify this because they’d have to cross the equator (with its infinite distortion) to get there.

This all comes with a big caveat: everyone in the city is an unreliable narrator. If Elizabeth Khan is correct, they don’t even perceive the shape of the world correctly to begin with. (And then there’s the possibility she and they could BOTH be wrong, as some fans have speculated).

The part about the world’s geometry should be changed accordingly. 2604:2D80:6984:3800:0:0:0:3D99 (talk) 01:58, 16 June 2023 (UTC)


 * I've removed the map with its problematic caption. In addition to the tractricoid issue, it's not labeled in English. Clarityfiend (talk) 06:07, 16 June 2023 (UTC)