Plotting in 4 Dimensions
You likely have seen readouts from GPS applications, where a device reveals its latitude and longitude. That is a 2D plot. Some GPS outputs also include an altitude reading. That’s a 3D plot.
In the green Value Space at left, below, the Range (analogous to longitude), MV (momentum, akin to latitude), and 2016 Price (similar to altitude) reveal 3D positions of 1 bomb (the BLU-111) and 2 missiles (the AGMs -158-1 and -84). The BLU-111 has a Range, MV, and 2016 Price of (28, 364,389, $32,000), while the ordered triples for AGMs -158-1 and -84 are (1000, 1,225,2000, $1.912M) and (270, 577,125, $528K), in that order.
The red Demand Plane, at right, describes positions as ordered pairs, with Quantities as the horizontal component, and 2016 Prices on the vertical axis, as (33,330, $32,000), (275, $1.912M), and (4,152, $528K) for BLU-11, AGM-158-1, AGM-84, respectively. The Demand Plane is a 2D plot.
As the 3D Value Space and 2D Demand Plane share the Price axis, the collectively form a 4D system, as displayed in the diagram and described in the table.
How do we display 5D systems? Read the next post for an explanation.