In GSP, rotations, reflections, and translations are made easy. Rotations “transform” (or turn) a figure around a particular point (that may or may not be a point that is showing on the figure). Reflections “transform” (or flip) a figure across a particular line (that may or may not be a line showing in the figure). Translations (slides) “transform” the figure using vectors, which means you need to define the direction (how may degrees down or up to move a point) and magnitude (how far each point travels in that direction).

Your goal of this lab is to transform a triangle in GSP. You need to transform your triangle using at least one rotation, one reflection, and one translation to have its final transformation “land” directly on top of your initial triangle, showing that it is still congruent to the original one.

You’ll want to take good notes on what you do so that you will be able to do it again so that you can record your script. When you’ve been successful, open a new sketch and a new script. Press record on the script and create a new triangle (make your initial triangle in red and the rest in black) and do your transformation again. Once you are done, press stop on the script. Save the script as “TRANSFORM.gss”. TEST IT!!!! If you open a new sketch, will your script work if you provide and select the given information?

All of these transformations can be found under the “TRANSFORM” menu. To complete them, follow the directions below.

To translate an object:

§Select the parts of the figure you want moved (all points and segments).

§Then ”translate”

§ Choose the direction (the degree of the angle to move the points) and the magnitude (distance to be traveled by each point) and press OK

To rotate an object:

§Select a point either on the object or not on the object.

§Select a center point to rotate around. Under the “transform” menu, choose “mark center…”

§Select the parts of the figure you want moved (all points and segments).

§Then “rotate” – choose the angle that you want to rotate the figure and press OK

To reflect an object:

§Select or create a line either on the object or not on the object.

§Under the “transform” menu, “mark mirror…”

§Select the parts of the figure you want moved (all points and segments).

§Then select “reflect”