MathThe BestieBeginner
Thinking in Shapes course icon

Thinking in Shapes

Like Duolingo, but for Thinking in Shapes. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

26 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free during early access · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Gigi the Giraffe
Thinking in Shapes
with Gigi the Giraffe
26
Levels
3
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Thinking in Shapes

  • A square frame can hinge at its corners and collapse into a rhombus
  • Side lengths lock the angles of a triangle into place
  • The concept that side lengths uniquely determine a triangle's shape
  • Adding a diagonal creates two triangles, which cannot change shape without changing side lengths
  • Unlike a square, a triangle's shape is fixed once the sides are joined
  • Why triangles are preferred over quadrilaterals for structural stability
  • Knowing all three side lengths (SSS) defines the triangle
  • Knowing two sides and the angle between them (SAS) defines the triangle
  • Knowing only the angles (AAA) tells you the shape but not the size
  • Identifying which sets of information are sufficient to define a specific triangle
  • Complex shapes can be broken into simpler rectangles
  • Area is a two-dimensional measurement (length times width)
  • The total area is the sum of the areas of the smaller parts
  • Doubling both dimensions increases area by a factor of four
  • Triangles are conceptually half of a related rectangle
  • How to calculate the area of an L-shaped floor plan by decomposition
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Thinking in Shapes the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

The Strength of Three Sides

If you build a triangle using three steel beams of fixed lengths, what happens to the angles between them?

Get it right to open this lesson and 25 more in the app.

Course map

Where Thinking in Shapes takes you

Stop seeing just lines and start seeing the hidden patterns that build our world. Learn to measure, build, and solve problems using the logic of shapes.

  1. 1

    Build and Measure Your World

    • The Secret Power of Triangles
    • How to Measure Any Flat Space
    • Fitting Shapes Together Without Gaps
    • Sizing Up Circles and Curves
  2. 2

    Mastering 3D Space

    • Turning Flat Drawings Into Solid Objects
    • How Much Can This Box Hold?
    • The Math of Perfect Pyramids
    • Why Spheres Are Everywhere in Nature
    • Shadows and Perspective
    • Designing Your Own Dream Room
  3. 3

    The Logic Behind the Lines

    • Winning Arguments with Geometric Proofs
    • Angles: The Language of Turning
    • The Rules That Never Change

3 sections · 13 units · 26 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Bestie

Thinking in Shapes is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

Start free

Start Thinking in Shapes today.

Download Tomo, search Thinking in Shapes, and play your first lesson in under a minute.