You see the world in 3 dimensions, but mathematicians commonly use four, five, and more dimensions. It allows them to describe the position of an object as it moves through space. But nobody has been able to show how 5 dimensions could exist in the real world so far.
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One dimensional (1-D) shapes are lines with only one dimension: length.
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Two dimensional (2-D) shapes have two dimensions: length and width. They can be represented as flat shapes on paper.
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Three dimensional (3-D) shapes have three dimensions: length, width, and depth.
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Scientists think of time as another dimension. They have described 3-D objects moving in a period of time as a way of visualizing four dimensions. It shows cube moving through space. The shape it makes, called a tesseract, represents a 4-D cube.
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Nobody has been able to make sense of a fifth dimension, although equations with five dimensions are common in mathematics. Scientists study a branch of physics known as string theory think the universe might have more than five dimensions. They would alter the behaviour of ripples of energy space if they exist, called gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are produced when two stars spiral into each other and merge. Gravitational waves were detected for the first time in 2015, so you might be close to seeing evidence of the fifth dimension soon.
