Look At It This Way
CHAPTER 7: 2-D Geometry
| Transformations Explorer allows students to translate, reflect, and rotate shapes. Students can watch animation of these transformations or draw shapes and perform their own transformations. |
To use Transformation Explorer to show transformations, click the "Show" button in the top right corner of the window. You can then click the "Choose" button to select a shape. Click "OK" when you have selected the shape you want. If you would rather draw your own shape, click the "Draw" button below "Initial Shape" and then follow the instructions in the box above the grid. If you want to adjust the shape you drew, click the "Adjust" button and follow the instructions in the box above the grid.
To select a transformation, click the "Create / Adjust" button. Then click on the button for the type of transformation you want to perform. You can specify how you want each transformation to occur. For example, you can select the "Translation" button and then specify how many points you want the shape to move left or right and up or down. Click "OK" when you are done. The box above the grid will display a description of the transformation to be performed.
Click the "Show" button under "Show / Animate" to see what the shape looks like after it completes the transformation. You can also click the "Animate" button to see the transformation animated.
If you want to practice performing your own transformations, after you have chosen or drawn an initial shape and selected a transformation, click the "Draw" button under "Mode". Then click the "Graph" button and plot each vertex of the translated, rotated, or reflected shape on the grid. The cursor will display which vertex you should be plotting, such as A.
