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What is
N-Dimensional geometry?
To find the answer you must first understand the
theory of Parallel Co-ordinates:
Parallel
Coordinates provide a method of visualising hundreds of variable interactions
on one 2D graph. They are in essence a major scientific breakthrough and one
which is harnessed by GPC technology.
Traditional graphs are restricted to a maximum of 3 variables. A single
point plotted on a 3D graph in the traditional,
orthogonal, manner is shown here...
The parallel coordinates method replaces the fundamental assumption of orthogonality between dimensions which has restricted previous co-ordinate
systems to visualisation in a maximum of three dimensions. If dimensions (axes)
are instead represented as parallel to each other then the limitation on their
number (almost) disappears.
The 3 dimensional point shown above can be transformed into parallel
coordinates. This is shown below.

Each axis has its own scale, and the datapoint is
described as a polygonal line connecting the
individual axis values. To recap: a point in cartesian
coordinates is represented by a line in parallel coordinates.
Adding more dimensions to the parallel coordinate plot simply involves adding
more axes to the right of the plot and extending the polygonal line to join up
with the new points. It really is as simple as that.
For an example of an entire process using a GPC tool see the next diagram.All of
the process values of variables P1 through P14 at approximately 0900 on the 14th
of the month have been associated with their resulting lab qualities (q4 through
q8) and are shown as one polygonal line.

Of course, a single point of operation will not
tell us very much at all about our process.
The real power of this transformation comes when
you plot many points together, and then use powerful scaling algorithms combined
with elegant queries to bring out relationships that just cannot be seen with
any other method.
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