'''Spacetime''' is the 4-dimensional [[vector space]] or [[manifold]]<ref>Often treated as a vector space when working examples, but that isn't really correct because it has no origin. The more sophisticated term "manifold" is correct.</ref> that simultaneously embodies the concepts of time and 3-dimensional space. Whether one can ascribe a separate existence to spacetime itself, depends on one's physical intuition. But that doesn't matter—"separate existence" or not, physicists working in the field understand spacetime as a useful concept. | '''Spacetime''' is the 4-dimensional [[vector space]] or [[manifold]]<ref>Often treated as a vector space when working examples, but that isn't really correct because it has no origin. The more sophisticated term "manifold" is correct.</ref> that simultaneously embodies the concepts of time and 3-dimensional space. Whether one can ascribe a separate existence to spacetime itself, depends on one's physical intuition. But that doesn't matter—"separate existence" or not, physicists working in the field understand spacetime as a useful concept. |