This is used in the real world by computer programmers to make models and animations.
Try your skill at using translations, rotations, and
slides by clicking on this link for a Khan Academy Simulation. Transformations Computer Practice
Transformations are a general term that means that things are being moved around in the coordinate graph.
Here are some terms that you probably know already: slides, flips, and turns.
- Slides- when an object is moved without lifting it off the page is a slide. Another way of saying slide is a translation. Translations can be found by using an equation like (x + 2, y - 1). For example, if the original point in an ordered pair (x,y) is (4,1) then the translation of that point would be (4+2, and 1-1) or the new point would be at (6,0).
- Flips- another word for a flip is a reflection. The reflection of the object is when it is "flipped" on the opposite side of the x or y axis. One way to do the reflection of a shape in an ordered pair (x,y) is to multiply either the x or y by negative 1. Let's say for instance that we want to flip a point over the x axis. Using point (3, 2) we would multiply the x coordinate 3 by -1. The new point would be at (-3,2)
- Turns- turning an object around from a center point is yet another way we can move the object. A Rotation is another name for a turn because there is a center point that remains the same as the shape rotates on 1 point. Both the size of the figure and the distance between the points remains the same as the figure rotates to different quadrants.
