Translations

Translation questions will involve moving a shape or the graph of a function in one of three ways: translation, rotation, or reflection.

Translation

• Translation: the orientation of the shape or graph will not change, but it will move to a new space in the xy-plane.

Rotation

• Rotation: the shape or graph will be rotated about the origin. This means that the origin will be the center of rotation, so whichever point of the graph or shape is closest to the origin will remain closest to the origin, but it will likely change to a new quadrant of the xy-plane.

Reflection

• Reflection: the shape or graph will be “flipped” along the y-axis or x-axis. Another way to phrase this is that a reflection creates the “mirror” image of the shape/graph on the other side of the axis that it is being reflected along.