# ISO: Term for A 4D Sphere?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-term-for-a-4d-sphere/642677>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 1, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-term-for-a-4d-sphere/642677 "2012-12-01T15:16:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-term-for-a-4d-sphere/642677/1 "2012-12-01T15:16:24Z")

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I am trying to recall a term for a 4D sphere, other than “hypersphere”. I once saw it called a gloob or gloobe? …or gloome or glume, perhaps? A Google search has led me nowhere, and Wiki used to redirect me to their “hypersphere” article, but I do not get redirected, so I must be spelling it wrong? HELP!

Maybe the wisdom of the SD can help me get it straight…dope! 😉

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-term-for-a-4d-sphere/642677/2 "2012-12-01T15:31:41Z")

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From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersphere):

> [@](#):
>
> Spheres of dimension n \> 2 are sometimes called hyperspheres, with 3-spheres sometimes known as glomes.

Also, common shapes and geometrical properties and their names in 2D, 3D, and 4D space [can be found here.](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Four-DimensionalGeometry.html)

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**Author:** ![Itself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Itself)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-term-for-a-4d-sphere/642677/3 "2012-12-01T19:49:12Z")

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3-sphere if you just mean the exterior “shell”, or 4-ball if you mean the 4-dimensional hypersphere plus its interior. (Why 3- and not 4-? The _n_ in _n_-sphere refers to the dimension of the object. On a globe— the 2-sphere— you have only 2 orthogonal directions at each point: north and east, for example, work unless you’re at the north or south pole. The globe happens to be sitting inside a a 3-dimensional space, but it’s a 2-dimensional object itself.)