What does perspective mean

Well in my maths book it says...
Has perspective been used to draw the rectangular prism in . blah blah blah
What does that exactly mean??

BEST ANSWER 10 POINTS!! thanks

Imagine you are standing at the front of a pyramid. You will then see only a triangle.

But when you are looking at the same pyramid, say, from a helicopter then you will see a square.

Does this mean the pyramid is like a square or triangle? No.

Everything (except a sphere) will look differently when looked at from different points of views at different angles.

A perspective view of an object from a point is the image you will see if you were looking at that object such that your eye is at that point. I hope this will clear your doubt. Cheers!!!

Perspective has many definitions, but the one your book alludes to is spatial/visual. A 2 dimensional drawing drawn in 'perspective' will appear to have 3 dimensional attributes. Objects or lines that are closer will look larger and those that are supposed to appear further away will seem to recede. The textbook example of perspective in real life is the view of train tracks - if you stand on the tracks and look towards the horizon the tracks appear to be getting closer together, but they are not. Our visual perspective only makes it seem that way.

two long parallel lines when seen from front appear to intersect at a point this is known as perspective
very useful in drawing

see this
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/xge/135/…

and this

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7tJecyPjCxA/S6…

perspective means the angle from where are you watching that prism.... sometimes we call it "in your own way"