Rotations

Investigate the transformations of the plane given by the 2 by 2 matrices with entries taking all combinations of values 0, -1 and +1.

A train leaves on time. After it has gone 8 miles (at 33mph) the driver looks at his watch and sees that the hour hand is exactly over the minute hand. When did the train leave the station?

Triangle ABC has equilateral triangles drawn on its edges. Points P, Q and R are the centres of the equilateral triangles. What can you prove about the triangle PQR?

What happens to these capital letters when they are rotated through one half turn, or flipped sideways and from top to bottom?

How many different symmetrical shapes can you make by shading triangles or squares?

Follow hints using a little coordinate geometry, plane geometry and trig to see how matrices are used to work on transformations of the plane.

What are the coordinates of this shape after it has been transformed in the ways described? Compare these with the original coordinates. What do you notice about the numbers?

How can these shapes be cut in half to make two shapes the same shape and size? Can you find more than one way to do it?

What is the volume of the solid formed by rotating this right angled triangle about the hypotenuse?

A red square and a blue square overlap. Is the area of the overlap always the same?