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Question: What is Shear ?

Answer:

A Shear is a transformation in which all the points move parallel to a fixed line or plane, in such a way that the distance a point moves is proportional to its distance from that line or plane.

For example, if a pack of cards or pile of books on a table is pushed so that the cross-section of the pile changes from a rectangle to a parallelogram then the pile will have undergone a shear. With a shear the area of a shape status the same.