ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

1 42 polytope

A polytope is like a shape made out of flat sides. For example, a cube is a polytope because it has six flat sides that are squares.

The 1 42 polytope is a really special polytope because it has 1 flat side and 42 points sticking out from it. Imagine a flat sheet of paper with 42 straws sticking out of it, all pointing in different directions.

But because it's such a special shape, you can't actually see it in our world because it lives in something called "fourth-dimensional space." That means it's like a shape that exists in a world with four dimensions - which is really hard for us to even imagine because we live in a world with only three dimensions!

Scientists and mathematicians use really complicated math and computer programs to study and understand shapes like the 1 42 polytope. They can figure out all sorts of cool things about it, like how it's related to other shapes and how it behaves in different dimensions.