Different
Dimensions

So what do we know about shapes?

Well, they come in so many different kinds that we can't even imagine them all.

And the names they are given tend to be hard to understand.

So we try to make sense of it by starting off simple,

with just the shapes we can make using only straight lines on something flat, like a desk or table.

And we start off with two points between which we have a straight line,

then take another line and join the two lines at one end.

Now, no matter how much you move them around, you can't get both ends to join up

unless they are both the same length and on top of each other.

The rest of the time you can only join the two separate points with another line,

and with that you have a polygon,

a shape made up of a number of sides joined together at angles,

in this case just three of each making it a triangle.

Well, there's an awful lot of shapes you can make, if you keep adding lines to make great chains of them,

so we give names to the simpler ones with just a few lines,

and to keep it even simpler we can start with polygons in which all the lines and angles are the same,

These are called the regular polygons,

the triangle, the square, the pentagon, the hexagon,

and up and up through the numbers of sides.

And that's just the regular polygons,

there are names for all sorts of polygons that aren't regular, but that we see all the time,

like the rectangle of a door or window.

Shapes, like numbers, are everywhere you look,

and to make it even more complicated

there's all the shapes where the lines aren't straight but curved.

And curved lines make more shapes than you can imagine,

and curves can do something interesting that straight lines can't.

The points at each end of a curve can meet,

so they can have a shape with only one line,

and the regular shape with one line is a circle,

a joined line with every point on it the same distance from the point furthest away,

a distance we call the diameter.

And half way across the diameter is the centre point,

and from there every point on the circle is the same distance away,

and we call that distance the radius,

and we call the length of the line that makes the circle the circumference.

And as you might expect from a perfect shape with only one line,

there are things about it that are a magical reflection of God,

For God is One like no other.

And all that geometry takes place on a flat surface,

so we say it only has two dimensions, 2D

but things get even more fun when we stop being flat

and move into three dimensions, 3D,

and the polygons are made into polyhedrons.

Now, in 3D the bits of the polygons that polyhedrons are made of are given different names,

with the flat part of the shapes being called the faces of the polyhedron,

and where the lines of the polygons meet being called edges,

and a point where edges and angles meet being called a vertex.

And just like there are regular polygons, there are also regular polyhedrons,

like a tetrahedron made from four regular triangles,

and a cube made from six regular squares.

And of course, there is our old friend the one line 2D circle,

which in 3D becomes a sphere

with no lines, just one curved face.

The world of shapes is full of wonder,

and muslims know that one of the Names of God is the Shaper,

because all of the shapes we can imagine come from God.