The Topic: Geometric Shapes and Figures

Easier - Circles, triangles, and squares are shapes. Geometry is the mathematical study of shapes, figures, and positions in space. It is useful in many careers such as architecture and carpentry.

 

Harder - Geometry is the study of measurement and comparison of lines, angles, points, planes, and surfaces and of plane figures and solids composed of combinations of these. A shape is the outer form of an object or figure such as a circle, triangle, square, rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, rhombus, octagon, pentagon, and hexagon. There are equilateral, isosceles, and right triangles. A solid is a three-dimensional figure such as a cube, cylinder, cone, prism, or pyramid. Other solid shapes include the tetrahedron, octahedron, and dodescadhedron. Positions in space are things like points, lines, and angles.

 

 

 

Formulas can be used to figure out the dimensions of shapes and figures. Instruments such as rulers, triangles, compasses, and protractors are used in geometry. Today, many people also use graphing calculators and computers in geometry.

 

The Greeks made many contributions to our understanding of geometry. For example, Archimedes is credited as the first to calculate the ratio between a circle's diameter and its circumference now known as pi. Pythagoras is famous for his theorem which states that in any right-angled triangle the sum of the squares on the two shorter sides equals the square of the hypotenuse. However, many people think the Egyptians and Babylonians knew this math much earlier.