Translate 2D Shapes

In this activity, we will look at translations!

 

First, look at these!

 

 

They are paintings by MC Escher, who was a Dutch artist.

He was inspired by maths!

The one on the left is called 'Pegasus'

It shows the flying horse Pegasus, translated lots of times in cream and tan. There are no gaps as they translate perfectly together

This is called a tessellation.

 

A translation is when we slide a 2D shape around a flat surface.

It faces the same direction and it stays the same size.

 

We describe the movement of the translation by left or right and then up or down.

Let's look at an example question.

 

Example

Describe the movement to translate shape A to shape B.

 

 

Answer

We have to describe left or right followed by up or down.

We need to give the number of squares moved.

 

1) First choose a corner. 

 

 

You can use any you like, so we've chosen the bottom left corner.

 

2) Mark on the corresponding (same) corner on B.

 

 

3) We can see we have to move to the right - count the moves!

 

 

4) Then we count how many moves up or down.

We can see it is up - count the moves up from X to X

 

 

Our answer is:

3 squares right and 1 square up.

 

Let's try some questions!