Essentially I want to know if spheres are able to be computed in say a VR or simulation as actual spheres or if they are computed as a surface that is really just a polygon with a large number of individual surfaces simulating a sphere.

Odd question but I'd appreciate some insight.

You say "computed" so I'm not sure if you're asking about visuals or something else. If you're asking about visuals, then I suspect it's the same answer as whether you can see a circle in the same environment. You did mention simulation, so If you're asking about computation, then of course you can use sphere math.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Mar 6 2016 02:56pm

Technically no, because sphere are continuous and computers are discrete. That being said, they can approximate one extremely well.

yea this
all we have is pi to compute with, which isn't an exact number and has to be rounded somewhere, unless your game is gonna max out your cpu calculating the circle for all eternity

seeking further insight

so essentially nothing is perfectly round both in reality and in computed simulations

You can compute/simulate roundness. you just can't see it visually.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Mar 7 2016 11:13pm

but is it spherical (as in a perfect sphere) or 'quasi-spherical' as in a polygon with say a million+ sides?

Not sure if using/not using Pi changes this in the rendering

A sphere is the set of all points (in 3 dimensions) equal distant from 1 point (the center of the sphere). You can use a computer to determine if another point exists inside the sphere, outside the sphere, or on the surface of the sphere. In that respect it can be perfect.

As far rendering it, or preforming transforms/rotations on the sphere; you would need an infinite number of pixels/points to do a perfect job.

second one, obviously
as I already said..
because of the fact pi has to be rounded SOMEWHERE

You can never see a circle for reasons they mentioned. But for computation purposes you can use perfect circles with respect to pi.