Grade 6 Math Circles

February 4-6, 2025

What are Transformations?

Transformations describe the changes made to an object. They can change the position or appearance
of the object. The object is known as the original figure that you apply the transformations to. The
image is the result after applying those transformations. Transformations can happen to anyone, at
any time. For example, when you look in a mirror, you witness a reflection.
In math, the four common types of transformations are translation, rotation, reflection, and dilation.

A lot of transformations are applied to an object on the Cartesian Plane. This plane is made up
of two intersecting lines called the x-axis (horizontal line) and the y-axis (vertical line). These lines
intersect at 0 on both axes, which is labeled as the origin. On the Cartesian Plane, we can plot
coordinate points in the form (x,y). The x represents the number on the x-axis and the y represents
the number on the y-axis.

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Translation

A translation is a shift from one position to another. The object can move left, right, up, or down.
The object does not change size or orientation.

Example 1
Translate the solid triangle 4 units to the left. Write down the coordinates of the vertices before
and after the translation.

The intial coordinates are (2,2), (3,2) and (2.5, 3). The new coordinates are (-2,2), (-1,2), and
(-1.5, 2).
Notice how the x-value of each vertex is reduced by 4.

Tip: it is helpful to move each point of the object separately, instead of moving the entire object at
once.

Exercise 1
a. Translate the rectangle 3 units down. What are the coordinates of the vertices of the image?
b. Translate the rectangle 2 units right and 3 units up. What are the coordinates of the vertices

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of the image?
Note: make sure you do part a and part b on the object, not the image.

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Rotation

A rotation is when an object is turned around a certain point. This point is called the center of
rotation. The object can move clockwise (CW) or counterclockwise (CCW) with the direction of
movement measured in degrees.
Keep in mind that there are 360º in one full rotation.
To help graph rotations centered at the origin, here are some helpful formulas.

Rotation Formula
◦ ◦
90 CCW (or 270 CW) (x,y) → (-y,x)
180◦ CCW (or 180◦ CW) (x,y) → (-x,-y)
◦ ◦
270 CCW (or 90 CW) (x,y) → (y,-x)

Here is an example of the formula (x,y) → (-y,x). The red object is being rotated 90◦ CCW at the
origin.

If an object is not centered at (0,0), you can make the center of rotation the “new origin” and move
the object based on this new origin.

Example 2
a. Rotate the triangle 90◦ CCW around the center of rotation. For this example, it is the origin.
What are the coordinates of A before and after the rotation?

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Before: (-3, 4), After: (-4, -3)
b. Rotate the triangle 180◦ CCW around (1,1), the center of rotation. What are the coordinates
of A before and after the rotation?

Before: (-4, 3), After: (4, -3)

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 Exercise 2
Use this online demonstration to learn more about rotations!

Reflection

A reflection is flipping the object about an arbitrary line called the line of reflection. After the
reflection, your image will be a mirror image of the object; it will not change size.

Example 3
Reflect the square across the red dotted line of reflection.

Exercise 3
a. Reflect the trapezoid across the dotted line of reflection located at y=2.

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b. Draw the line of reflection.

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Dilation

A dilation changes the size of the object, but not the shape. Dilation is also known as stretching or
compressing. Applying a stretch to the object will make it taller or wider. Applying a compression
to the object will make it shorter or narrower. To apply a stretch or compression, we will scale the
object by a real number.

Example 4
Apply a horizontal stretch to the square by a factor of 3.

Notice for a horizontal stretch, we multiplied each x-coordinate by the scale factor and kept the
y-coordinates the same. For a vertical stretch, you would multiply the y-coordinates by the scale
factor and leave the x-coordinates the same.

Exercise 4
a. Classify each image as a stretch or compression of the original shape.
b. Is it a vertical or horizontal stretch/compression?
c. What is the scale factor?
Hint: the dark shape is the object and the light shape is the image.
i. ii.

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Tessellations and Tiling

Tiling is known as dividing a Cartesian plane into small tiles or pieces that fit together perfectly.
This means that there are no gaps or overlapping pieces.

images by Martin McBride

Tilings are also called tessellations. There are three rules that must be met for a pattern to be a
tessellation:
1. there are no gaps or overlapping shapes.
2. all shapes must be regular polygons.
3. every vertex must look the same (a vertex is known as the corner point of a polygon).

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To help understand rule 3, we need to look at each vertex and discuss which shapes share that vertex.
In this photo, each vertex is connected to 4 triangles and 1 hexagon. No matter which vertex you
choose, the pattern is the same, so they all look the same.

To name a tessellation, first choose a vertex and count how many of each shape use that vertex.
Then, find the smallest polygon using the vertex and move around the vertex, writing the number
of side lengths those shapes have. You want to move in the direction that allows you to write the
smallest number of sides first.

Example 5
In the picture below, the name of the Tessellation is 3.3.3.3.6. This is because at each vertex,
there are 4 triangles (3 sides) and 1 hexagon (6 sides).

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Here is a list of some regular polygons for you to refer to:

image by Malcolm McKinsey

Exercise 5
Using regular polygons, create your own tessellation. Then name your tessellation.

Using Transformations and Tessellations

There is a lot of information that we can cover here, but we will only take a quick look at how
transformations work with tessellations.

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When we create a tessellation, we might have to apply transformations to the polygons to create our
desired pattern. We might rotate, reflect, or translate shapes.

Example 6
In this 3.4.6.4 tessellation, we would apply a translation to the triangles, squares, and hexagons.
We would also apply a rotation to the triangles and squares.

If you cannot see how we applied those transformations, try looking at one iteration of the pattern.
How would you replicate this pattern elsewhere?

Exercise 6
Name the tessellations. Then, write down which transformations would be used to create the
pattern.
For an extra exercise, try to extend the tessellations.
a.

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b.

c.

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