If you constructed a circle with the radius of the universe, then measured its circumference and radius measurement accuracy would easily be able to tell the difference between a real circle and a mathematical circle. That is because neither the circumference of the circle will nor the diameter of the circle will be moving through empty space. They will be near enough to matter to measure detectable deflections.
Comment on How do people calculate pi to the hundredth+ decimal place?
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 day agoMeh, spacetime curvature has so little effect that it actually does come down to measurement accuracy. And if you go to the scale of the whole universe it is flat as far as we currently know.
Now I wonder how LISA will handle curvature changes due to sun, earth and moon moving around, or if they won’t make enough of a difference.
qt0x40490FDB@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
qt0x40490FDB@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
I mean, Geodetic interferometers already exist and can measure very small deviations. Give them arms the length of the observable universe and they will increase in accuracy, not decrease in accuracy.