>> So how *do* you compute the distance between two points in a
>> non-Euclid space anyway?
>
> Generally you start with a notion of something like a dot product
> defined in the tangent spaces of your space and then write out an
> integral to define the arc length of a curve. Then the distance between
> two points can be defined to be the minimum length of any curve
> connecting them.
Any idea what the hell a tangent space is?
>> For that matter, is there a way to unambiguously refer to a specific
>> point in such a space?
>
> Depends on the space. A relatively general but computationally
> cumbersome solution is to cover your space will small Cartesian patches
> which connect together in a "nice" way. The you can define a point by
> giving its Cartesian patch and its coordinates within that patch.
Hmm, sounds like kind of a patchy solution...
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