Mirror Images and Rotations Flashcards

When a figure is reflected in a vertical mirror, which aspect changes?

Answer: Left and right are reversed

A vertical mirror line reverses the left-right orientation while keeping everything else the same.

A letter F is rotated 180 degrees. What does it look like?

Answer: An upside-down and backwards F

A 180-degree rotation turns the figure completely upside down and reverses its horizontal direction.

How do you distinguish between a rotation and a reflection of a figure?

Answer: A rotation preserves the same orientation (handedness); a reflection reverses it

A key difference is that rotation preserves handedness (a clock stays clockwise) while reflection reverses it (a clock becomes counter-clockwise).

If a triangle pointing right is rotated 90 degrees clockwise, which direction does it point?

Answer: Down

A 90-degree clockwise rotation moves the pointing direction one quarter turn to the right: right becomes down.

A figure has rotational symmetry of order 4. What does this mean?

Answer: It looks the same after rotations of 90, 180, 270, and 360 degrees

Order 4 rotational symmetry means the figure maps onto itself 4 times during a full 360-degree rotation (at 90° intervals).

Two figures appear identical except one is a mirror image. In a matching exercise, how do you identify the reflection?

Answer: Check if any asymmetric features are reversed — text, directional elements, or unique markings

Asymmetric elements (like letters, arrows pointing in one direction, or unique markings on one side) will appear reversed in a mirror image.