


In the 1800’s, leading mathematicians developed non-Euclidean geometry - which changed everything that people thought they knew about geometry.



Non-euclidean geometry Wikipedia





This Part Basketball Elena Holodny

If we zoom in, we see:

Zoomed in Elena Holodny



Basketball Wikipedia

But these lines are not actually following the curve of the ball. Whoever designed a basketball probably didn't study non-Euclidean geometry. If he did, he'd know that a sphere is not hyperbolic, but rather it is elliptic.



Parallel Lines intersect Elena Holodny


Weirdly enough, this does not mean that parallel lines intersect, but rather that seemingly parallel lines intersect - such as those on the basketball. In fact, in non-Euclidean geometry there are no parallel lines. But any lines on the earth's surface, even if they seem parallel, eventually meet. 

And if you have a basketball at home, you can try and trace this with your finger - it'll feel weird if you do not follow the natural curvature.
