ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Hyperbolization theorem

Okay kiddo, so imagine you have a bunch of points on a piece of paper. Those points are all connected by lines. When you connect all the dots, it makes a shape called a polygon.

Now imagine you want to stretch or shrink that shape, so it looks different but still has the same number of points and lines. This is called a transformation.

The hyperbolization theorem is a special type of transformation that takes a polygon with a certain number of sides and turns it into a special kind of curved shape. This new shape is called a hyperbolic surface.

It's kind of like taking a flat piece of paper and crumpling it up to make a ball. The paper still has the same amount of material, but it's now in a different shape. In the same way, the hyperbolization theorem turns a flat polygon into a curved hyperbolic shape.

This idea might seem kind of weird, but it's actually really important in math and science. Scientists use hyperbolic surfaces to study things like the behavior of light in space and the structure of certain molecules.

So, basically, the hyperbolization theorem lets us transform a flat shape into a curved shape that can be really useful for studying all sorts of things!