A design is repeated endlessly along a line - rather like a stream of paper coming off a roll. Make a strip that matches itself after rotation, or after reflection
I noticed this about streamers that have rotation symmetry : if there was one centre of rotation there always seems to be a second centre that also worked. Can you find a design that has only. . . .
When a strip has vertical symmetry there always seems to be a second place where a mirror line could go. Perhaps you can find a design that has only one mirror line across it. Or, if you thought that. . . .
In a snooker game the brown ball was on the lip of the pocket but it could not be hit directly as the black ball was in the way. How could it be potted by playing the white ball off a cushion?
I took the graph y=4x+7 and performed four transformations. Can you find the order in which I could have carried out the transformations?
Explore the effect of reflecting in two intersecting mirror lines.
Investigate what happens to the equations of different lines when you reflect them in one of the axes. Try to predict what will happen. Explain your findings.
Explore the effect of reflecting in two parallel mirror lines.
Charlie likes tablecloths that use as many colours as possible, but insists that his tablecloths have some symmetry. Can you work out how many colours he needs for different tablecloth designs?
Consider a watch face which has identical hands and identical marks for the hours. It is opposite to a mirror. When is the time as read direct and in the mirror exactly the same between 6 and 7?
A fire-fighter needs to fill a bucket of water from the river and take it to a fire. What is the best point on the river bank for the fire-fighter to fill the bucket ?.
How many different transformations can you find made up from combinations of R, S and their inverses? Can you be sure that you have found them all?
In how many ways can you fit all three pieces together to make shapes with line symmetry?
A moveable screen slides along a mirrored corridor towards a centrally placed light source. A ray of light from that source is directed towards a wall of the corridor, which it strikes at 45 degrees. . . .
Patterns that repeat in a line are strangely interesting. How many types are there and how do you tell one type from another?
How many different symmetrical shapes can you make by shading triangles or squares?
How will you decide which way of flipping over and/or turning the grid will give you the highest total?
Which way of flipping over and/or turning this grid will give you the highest total? You'll need to imagine where the numbers will go in this tricky task!
Proofs that there are only seven frieze patterns involve complicated group theory. The symmetries of a cylinder provide an easier approach.
This article for teachers suggests ideas for activities built around 10 and 2010.
This article describes the scope for practical exploration of tessellations both in and out of the classroom. It seems a golden opportunity to link art with maths, allowing the creative side of your. . . .
What angle is needed for a ball to do a circuit of the billiard table and then pass through its original position?
The centre of the larger circle is at the midpoint of one side of an equilateral triangle and the circle touches the other two sides of the triangle. A smaller circle touches the larger circle and. . . .
A gallery of beautiful photos of cast ironwork friezes in Australia with a mathematical discussion of the classification of frieze patterns.
Given that ABCD is a square, M is the mid point of AD and CP is perpendicular to MB with P on MB, prove DP = DC.
Sort the frieze patterns into seven pairs according to the way in which the motif is repeated.
Some local pupils lost a geometric opportunity recently as they surveyed the cars in the car park. Did you know that car tyres, and the wheels that they on, are a rich source of geometry?
Why not challenge a friend to play this transformation game?
See the effects of some combined transformations on a shape. Can you describe what the individual transformations do?
Does changing the order of transformations always/sometimes/never produce the same transformation?
A challenging activity focusing on finding all possible ways of stacking rods.