ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Murray polygon

A Murray Polygon is a fancy math word for a shape that is made up of straight lines and is closed in on itself. Imagine drawing a bunch of dots on a piece of paper and then drawing a line from each dot to the next one in order until you get back to the first dot. That's a Murray Polygon! It can have as many sides (or straight lines) as you want.

We can use Murray Polygons to help us measure things in the real world. For example, imagine we have a big field that we want to measure. We can walk around the entire field and plot a Murray Polygon by putting down markers (like little flags or sticks) at each corner of the field and then walking in a straight line from one marker to the next until we get back to the first marker. We can then measure each side of the Murray Polygon using a measuring tape or a ruler to find out how big the field is. Handy, right?

The shape of a Murray Polygon can also tell us interesting things about a group of data points. For example, imagine we have a set of data points that represent the location of different stores in a city. We can plot those points on a map and draw a Murray Polygon around them to see which areas of the city have the most stores. If the Murray Polygon is very skinny and tall, that means the stores are all clustered together in one area. If the Murray Polygon is wide and short, the stores are more spread out across the city.

So, in summary, a Murray Polygon is a simple shape made up of straight lines that can be used to measure things in the real world and analyze data. Pretty cool, huh?