The points of this triangle around the origin by negative 270 degrees, where is it gonna put these points? And to help us think about that, I have copied and pasted So what we want to do is think about, well look, if we rotate And this tool, I can put points in, or I could delete points. So positive is counter-clockwise, which is a standard convention, and this is negative, so a negative degree would be clockwise. The direction of rotationīy a positive angle is counter-clockwise. So this is the triangle PINĪnd we're gonna rotate it negative 270 degrees about the origin. We're told that triangle PIN is rotated negative 270ĭegrees about the origin. I hope this gives you more of an intuitive sense. If you want, you can connect each vertex and rotated vertex to the origin to see if the angle is indeed 90 degrees. As per the definition of rotation, the angles APA', BPB', and CPC', or the angle from a vertex to the point of rotation (where your finger is) to the transformed vertex, should be equal to 90 degrees. The rotated triangle will be called triangle A'B'C'.
The point at which we do the rotation, we'll call point P. Well, let's say the shape is a triangle with vertices A, B, and C, and we want to rotate it 90 degrees. The shape is being rotated! But how do we do this for a specific angle? With your finger firmly on that point, rotate the paper on top. Now place your finger on the rotation point. Put another paper on top of it (I like to imagine this one as being something like a transparent sheet protector, and I draw on it using a dry-erase marker) and trace the point/shape. Here's something that helps me visualize it: The "formula" for a rotation depends on the direction of the rotation. I'm sorry about the confusion with my original message above. If you want to do a clockwise rotation follow these formulas: 90 = (b, -a) 180 = (-a, -b) 270 = (-b, a) 360 = (a, b). Also this is for a counterclockwise rotation. 360 degrees doesn't change since it is a full rotation or a full circle.
180 degrees and 360 degrees are also opposites of each other.
So, (-b, a) is for 90 degrees and (b, -a) is for 270.
Note that PC=PC', for example, since they are the radii of the same circle.)Ī positive angle of rotation turns a figure counterclockwise (CCW),Īnd a negative angle of rotation turns the figure clockwise, (CW).The way that I remember it is that 90 degrees and 270 degrees are basically the opposite of each other. (The dashed arcs in the diagram below represent the circles, with center P, through each of the triangle's vertices. A rotation is called a rigid transformation or isometry because the image is the same size and shape as the pre-image.Īn object and its rotation are the same shape and size, but the figures may be positioned differently.ĭuring a rotation, every point is moved the exact same degree arc along the circleĭefined by the center of the rotation and the angle of rotation. Rays drawn from the center of rotation to a point and its image form an angle called the angle of rotation. When working in the coordinate plane, the center of rotation should be stated, and not assumed to be at the origin. A rotation of θ degrees (notation R C,θ ) is a transformation which "turns" a figure about a fixed point, C, called the center of rotation.