Unit 7 Section 5 : Rotations

In this section we review rotational symmetry and draw rotations of shapes.

Example 1

State the order of rotational symmetry of each of the following shapes:

(a)
Order 4. This means that the shape can be rotated 4 times about its centre before returning to its starting position. Each rotation will be through an angle of 90°, and, after each one, the rotated shape will occupy the same position as the original square.
(b)
Order 2
(c)
Order 1. This means that the shape does not have rotational symmetry.

Example 2

The corners of a rectangle have coordinates (3, 2), (7, 2), (7, 5) and (3, 5). The rectangle is to be rotated through 90 ° clockwise about the origin.
Draw the original rectangle and its position after being rotated.

The following diagram shows the original rectangle A B C D and the rotated rectangle A' B' C' D'. The curves show how each corner moves as it is rotated. The easiest way to rotate a shape is to place a piece of tracing paper over the shape, trace the shape, and then rotate the tracing paper about the centre of rotation, as shown.

Example 3

A triangle has corners at the points with coordinates (4, 7), (2, 7) and (4, 2).

(a)

Draw the triangle.

(b)
Rotate the triangle through 180° about the point (4, 1).

The diagram shows how the original triangle A B C is rotated about the point (4, 1) to give the triangle A' B' C'.

Example 4

The diagram shows the triangle A B C which is rotated through 90° to give A' B' C'.
Determine the position of the centre of rotation.

The first step is to join the points A and A' and draw the perpendicular bisector of this line.
The centre of rotation must be on this line.

Repeat the process, drawing the perpendicular bisectors of B B' and C C' as shown opposite.
The point where the lines cross is the centre of rotation.

Note:

For simple rotations you may be able to spot the centre of rotation without having to use the method shown above. Alternatively, you may be able to find the centre of rotation by experimenting with tracing paper.

Exercises

Question 1

State the order of rotational symmetry of each of the following shapes:

(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Question 2

Which of the capital letters have rotational symmetry?

Question 3

A rectangle has corners at the points A (2, 4), B (6, 4), C (6, 6) and D (2, 6).

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(a)

Draw this rectangle.

(b)

Rotate the rectangle through 90° clockwise about the point (0, 0).

(c)

Rotate the rectangle A B C D through 180° about the point (0, 0).

Question 4

Rotate the rectangle formed by joining the points (1, 1), (3, 1), (3, 2) and (1, 2) through 90° clockwise about the origin.

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Question 5

A triangle has corners at the points with coordinates (4, 7), (3, 2) and (5, 1).
Determine the coordinates of the triangles that are obtained by rotating the original triangle:

(a)

through 90° anticlockwise about (0, 3),

, ,
(b)

through 180° about (4, 0),

, ,
(c)

through 90° clockwise about (6, 2).

, ,
Question 6

The following diagram shows the triangles A, B C and D.

Describe the rotation that takes:

(a) A to B, Rotation through ° about ( )
(b) A to C, Rotation through ° about ( )
(c) C to B, Rotation through ° about ( )
(d) C to D. Rotation through ° about ( )
Question 7

The following diagram shows the rectangles A, B, C and D.

Describe the rotation that takes:

(a) A to B, Rotation through ° about ( )
(b) A to C, Rotation through ° about ( )
(c) A to D, Rotation through ° about ( )
(d) A to E. Rotation through ° about ( )
Question 8

The triangle A has corners at the points with coordinates (1, 7), (3, 6) and (2, 4).

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(a)

Rotate triangle A through 180° about the origin to get triangle B.

(b)

Rotate triangle B clockwise through 90° about the point (0, –4) to get triangle C.

(c)

Write down the coordinates of the corners of triangle C.

, ,

Question 9

The following diagrams show two rotations. Determine the coordinates of the centre of rotation in each case.

Question 10

A triangle has corners at the points A (4, 2), B (6, 3) and C (5, 7). The triangle is rotated to give the triangle with corners at the points A' (3, –1), B' (4, –3) and C' (8, –2).
Describe fully this rotation.

Rotation through ° about ( )

Question 11

An equilateral triangle has 3 lines of symmetry.

It has rotational symmetry of order 3.

Write the letter of each of the following shapes in the correct space in a copy of the table. You may use a mirror or tracing paper to help you.
The letters for the first two shapes have been written for you.

Question 12

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(a)

You can rotate triangle A onto triangle B. Make a copy of the diagram and put a cross on the centre of rotation. You may use tracing paper to help you.

(b)

You can rotate triangle A onto triangle B. The rotation is anti-clockwise. What is the angle of rotation?

°
(c)

On the diagram below, reflect triangle A in the mirror line. You may use a mirror or tracing paper to help you.

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Question 13

Julie has written a computer program to transform pictures of tiles. There are only two instructions in her program,

reflect vertical
or
rotate 90° clockwise.
(a)

Julie wants to transform the first pattern to the second pattern.

Complete the following instructions to transform the tiles B1 and B2. You must use only reflect vertical or rotate 90° clockwise.

A1 Tile is in the correct position.
A2 Reflect vertical, and then rotate 90° clockwise.
B1 Rotate 90° clockwise and then
B2
(b)

Paul starts with the first pattern that was on the screen.

Complete the instructions for the transformations of A2, B1 and B2 to make Paul's pattern. You must use only reflect vertical or rotate 90° clockwise.

A1 Reflect vertical, and then rotate 90° clockwise.
A2 Rotate 90° clockwise, and then
B1
B2