Recognize translations, rotations, and reflections
A translation slides a figure the same distance in the same direction, a rotation turns it around a fixed point, and a reflection flips it across a line to form a mirror image. These transformations preserve a figure’s size and shape, although a reflection reverses its orientation; learners identify them in drawings and on grids, including common quarter-turn and half-turn cases, without using coordinate rules or composing multiple transformations.
Detailed Explanation: Recognize translations, rotations, and reflections
A transformation changes where a figure is, but it does not change its size or shape.
Translation: The figure slides the same distance in the same direction. It still faces the same way.
Rotation: The figure turns around a fixed point, like the hands of a clock. It may turn a quarter-turn or half-turn.
Reflection: The figure flips across a line, making a mirror image. Its size and shape stay the same, but its orientation is reversed.
To recognize a transformation, compare the original figure with the new figure:
Did it slide without turning or flipping? It is a translation.
Did it turn around a point? It is a rotation.
Does it look like a mirror image across a line? It is a reflection.
Worked example
A triangle on a grid is moved 4 squares to the right. The new triangle is the same size and shape, and it still points in the same direction.
It did not turn, so it is not a rotation.
It did not flip to make a mirror image, so it is not a reflection.
Every part of the triangle moved the same distance in the same direction.
Therefore, the transformation is a translation.
Learn by doing: Recognize translations, rotations, and reflections
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