Geometric shapes are figures which can be described using mathematical data, such as equations, and are an important component to the study of geometry. Basically, geometric shapes are the spatial representation of mathematical information and are unrelated to other descriptive data such as location.
The term polygon is used when describing figures which are closed and constructed of lines and points. Polygons are referred to as plane figures because they exist in two dimensions.
There are various different types of polygons and they differ in terms of their number of sides. Squares, triangles and hexagons are all examples of polygons. Additionally, other shapes such as circles which are formed by curves are also polygons. A curve is a geometric shape, but not a polygon because it is not a closed figure. Rather it is used to create polygons such as a circle or an ellipse.
In the study of geometry, analyzing the different properties of geometric shapes is a common practice. All geometric shapes differ in terms of their side lengths, number of vertices and angle measurements, to name a few features. Furthermore, the mathematical principles and theories which relate with different shapes vary and thus, having a broad understanding of geometric shapes is useful.
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