Turning the Tables
Shepard Tables — 2026, generated SVG, dimensions variable · Geometry · Still
After Roger N. Shepard, 1990
Are the two tabletops the same shape?
Are the two tabletops the same shape, or different?
Share
Reveal the answer
Same shape and size. Rotate the right tabletop and it fits over the left.
↑ The mechanism, made visible.
Notes — why it looks that way
What is happening
The left table looks long and narrow, receding into the distance. The right table looks almost square and wide. But the brown tabletops are the same single parallelogram, just rotated in place — the side lengths and angles never change. Revealing the answer removes the right table, rotates its tabletop back, and lays it over the left one. The outlines match exactly.
Why it looks that way
Legs and tabletop thickness make the visual system read a flat drawing as a solid object standing on a floor. It then corrects for perspective: an edge receding into the distance must actually be longer than it looks. The left tabletop has its long edge running into the depth, while the right one has its long edge running sideways, so the correction pulls in opposite directions — and that difference is felt as a difference in shape. What you’re seeing isn’t the length on screen but the size your visual system infers for the object in space.
How to check
Press “Remove the context” to drop the legs and thickness, leaving just two parallelograms — the difference shrinks right away. Tracing the left tabletop onto paper and rotating it over the right one is another reliable way to check.
First described
After Roger N. Shepard, 1990
Source: "Mind Sights" (1990)
Introduced as "Turning the Tables".
Media — images and data
- OG / X (1200×630)
- Instagram square (1080×1080)
- Shorts / Reels vertical (1080×1920)
- Answer image — landscape (X)
- Answer image — square (Instagram)
- Answer image — vertical (Shorts)
- Post drafts (JSON)
Free to use for non-commercial purposes such as classes, school projects and blogs, with a link back to this page as the credit. Commercial use is not covered
Every figure is generated here from the phenomenon itself (re-implemented). The Shepard tables principle is re-implemented here as SVG. The tabletop parallelograms and leg placement are designed independently; no existing figure or code is reproduced.