Through the Looking Glass (Posted on 2004-01-29)

	Submitted by SilverKnight
Rating: 3.6667 (6 votes)
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Mirrors invert front to back, not left to right. The popular misconception of the inversion is caused by the fact that a person when looking at another person expects him/her to face her/him, so with the left-hand side to the right. When facing oneself (in the mirror) one sees an 'uninverted' person. See Martin Gardner, "Hexaflexagons and other mathematical diversions," University of Chicago Press 1988, Chapter 16. Interestingly, a letter by R.D. Tschigi and J.L. Taylor published in this book states that the fundamental reason is: "Human beings are superficially and grossly bilaterally symmetrical, but subjectively and behaviorally they are relatively asymmetrical. The very fact that we can distinguish our right from our left side implies an asymettry of the perceiving system, as noted by Ernst Mach in 1900. We are thus, to a certain extent, an asymmetrical mind dwelling in a bilaterally symmetrical body, at least with respect to a casual visual inspection of our external form."

	Subject	Author	Date
	SOL	nilshady	2005-04-21 17:14:39
	solution	vije	2004-07-05 10:54:03
	re: This is science right ?	notlogical	2004-06-22 23:30:24
	the mirror problem	notlogical	2004-06-22 23:28:04
	concave?	logischer Verstand	2004-04-19 18:02:28
	Looking glass	Wally	2004-03-16 20:00:29
	i think....	chuck	2004-02-07 12:30:06
	One way to think about it	Tristan	2004-02-03 22:32:15
	Answer	Federico Kereki	2004-01-30 07:14:38
	Alice didn't worry about it	Dan Blume	2004-01-29 18:38:23
	This is science right ?	Jane Doe	2004-01-29 18:06:27
	solution	Charlie	2004-01-29 16:00:52
	answer (somewhat spoiler)	DJ	2004-01-29 15:40:43