  We develop a simple analytical model based on a variational method to explain
the properties of trapped cylindrically symmetric Bose-Einstein condensates
(BEC) of varying degrees of anisotropy well into regimes of effective one
dimension (1D) and effective two dimension (2D). Our results are accurate in
regimes where the Thomas-Fermi approximation breaks down and they are shown to
be in agreement with recent experimental data.
