Final answer:
An abstract base class called Shape can be used to represent geometric shapes such as square, rectangle, triangle, and circle, each of which would inherit from Shape and implement methods for calculating area and perimeter.
Step-by-step explanation:
Defining an Abstract Class for Geometric Shapes
To represent geometric shapes like a square, rectangle, triangle, and circle through classes, we would start by defining an abstract base class. This abstract class could be called Shape, and it would contain methods that must be implemented by all the derived classes, such as area and perimeter (or circumference if it is a circle).
Each derived class (Square, Rectangle, Triangle, and Circle) will inherit from the Shape class and provide its own specific implementation of these methods. For example, the Square class will implement the area method by returning the square of the side length, while the Rectangle class will return the product of its length and width.
The Shape class serves as a template for its derived classes, ensuring that each geometric shape adheres to a standard interface for calculating its geometric properties, while allowing each shape to do so in a manner appropriate to its specific form.