PA RT

3

The Shape of the World

Any world tour must include seeing the sights, having a look at the shape of things. Whether it’s a
natural formation like a mountain or a canyon, or a famous building or monument, by the end of
a journey, your scrapbook will certainly have some examples of great geometry.
This part of our journey is devoted to looking at the geometry of the mathematical world. You’ll
learn the basic vocabulary you need to describe what you see and how to identify the polygons,
circles, polyhedrals, and other solids that form the architecture of the mathematical world.

We won’t abandon numbers completely as we look at these shapes, but for a while numbers will
be a lesser focus. There’s still a place for calculating, but we’ll investigate relationships between
shapes as well.