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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpg ==Origin== [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from [http://nordan.dayna...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]]
==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] ''sceapen'', ''gescapen'', past participle of ''scieppan''; akin to Old High German ''skepfen'' to shape
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_century before 12th Century]
==Definitions==
*1: [[form]], [[create]]; especially : to give a particular form or shape to
*2obsolete : [[ordain]], [[decree]]
*3: to [[adapt]] in shape so as to fit neatly and closely <a dress shaped to her figure>
*4a : devise, [[plan]] <shape a [[policy]]>
:b : to [[embody]] in definite [[form]] <shaping a folktale into an epic>
*5a : to make fit for (as a particular use or [[purpose]]) : adapt <shape the questions to fit the answers>
:b : to determine or direct the [[course]] or [[character]] of <events that shaped [[history]]>
:c : to modify (behavior) by rewarding [[changes]] that tend toward a [[desired]] [[response]]
==Description==
The '''shape''' (Old English: ''gesceap'', created thing) of an object located in some [[space]] is a [[geometrical]] [[description]] of the part of that space occupied by the object, as determined by its external boundary – [[abstracting]] from location and [[orientation]] in space, size, and other properties such as [[color]], [[content]], and material [[composition]].
Mathematician and statistician [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_George_Kendall David George Kendall] writes:
<blockquote>In this paper ‘shape’ is used in the vulgar sense, and means what one would normally expect it to mean. [...] We here define ‘shape’ informally as ‘all the geometrical information that remains when location, scale[2] and rotational effects are filtered out from an object.’</blockquote>
Simple shapes can be described by basic [[geometry]] objects such as a set of two or more [[points]], a [[line]], a [[curve]], a [[plane]], a plane figure (e.g. [[square]] or [[circle]]), or a solid figure (e.g. cube or [[sphere]]). Most shapes occurring in the [[physical]] world are [[complex]]. Some, such as [[plant]] structures and coastlines, may be so [[arbitrary]] as to defy [[traditional]] mathematical description – in which case they may be analyzed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_geometry differential geometry], or as fractals.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape]
[[Category: Mathematics]]
==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] ''sceapen'', ''gescapen'', past participle of ''scieppan''; akin to Old High German ''skepfen'' to shape
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_century before 12th Century]
==Definitions==
*1: [[form]], [[create]]; especially : to give a particular form or shape to
*2obsolete : [[ordain]], [[decree]]
*3: to [[adapt]] in shape so as to fit neatly and closely <a dress shaped to her figure>
*4a : devise, [[plan]] <shape a [[policy]]>
:b : to [[embody]] in definite [[form]] <shaping a folktale into an epic>
*5a : to make fit for (as a particular use or [[purpose]]) : adapt <shape the questions to fit the answers>
:b : to determine or direct the [[course]] or [[character]] of <events that shaped [[history]]>
:c : to modify (behavior) by rewarding [[changes]] that tend toward a [[desired]] [[response]]
==Description==
The '''shape''' (Old English: ''gesceap'', created thing) of an object located in some [[space]] is a [[geometrical]] [[description]] of the part of that space occupied by the object, as determined by its external boundary – [[abstracting]] from location and [[orientation]] in space, size, and other properties such as [[color]], [[content]], and material [[composition]].
Mathematician and statistician [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_George_Kendall David George Kendall] writes:
<blockquote>In this paper ‘shape’ is used in the vulgar sense, and means what one would normally expect it to mean. [...] We here define ‘shape’ informally as ‘all the geometrical information that remains when location, scale[2] and rotational effects are filtered out from an object.’</blockquote>
Simple shapes can be described by basic [[geometry]] objects such as a set of two or more [[points]], a [[line]], a [[curve]], a [[plane]], a plane figure (e.g. [[square]] or [[circle]]), or a solid figure (e.g. cube or [[sphere]]). Most shapes occurring in the [[physical]] world are [[complex]]. Some, such as [[plant]] structures and coastlines, may be so [[arbitrary]] as to defy [[traditional]] mathematical description – in which case they may be analyzed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_geometry differential geometry], or as fractals.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape]
[[Category: Mathematics]]