posted on Jul, 26 2004 @ 08:34 PM
Thats 10 physical dimensions and 1 time. Both from M-theory, thats why you hear both numbers.
First of all read up on string theory.
superstringtheory.com...
After that the rest of this will make sense...
If a person looks at a wire up in the air it looks like a line, one dimension. But an ant on that wire could walk back and forth along the wire or go
around it. That small circular dimension is there, but from a distance we don't see it. The same goes for very very small particles. They are 10
dimensional, but in our large world we only see 3 of those 10. So everything is 10 dimensions, we just see 3 of them.
These are real, physical, dimension that exist all around us and in us, just like anywhere in the universe there is still and up and down.
Now M-theory ALSO sugest there are other universe overlaping ours. Different "dimensions" we can see with our eyes. It seems that gravity might
actually move between universes, we hope to verrify this one day.
So when people talk about "other dimensions" they probably mean the second type, a form a alternate universe if you will. If people are talking
about the 10 or 11 dimensions they probably mean physical and time in this universe.