Its simplest if the two figures are polylines based on the same number of points.
Suppose if the first figure is based on the polyline Ai, and the second polyline B is based on points Bi, for i=0,.......,n-1
we can form a polyline P(t), called the tween at time t by forming the points
Pi(t) = (1 - t) Ai + t Bi
if we look at the succession of values for t between 0 and 1, say t=0.0,0.1,0.2.... ,0.9,1.0
we see that this polyline begins with the shape of A and ends with the shape of B, but in-between it is a blend of shapes between A and B.
Here is a link to google books for the said pages in the this book.