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In Miss Chan's class, a group were working with a box of large
wooden capital letters. They were exploring what happened when they
rotated them one half turn, or flipped them sideways and from top
to bottom.
They started with "F". They found four Fs in the box.
"Billy, you just push yours into the middle of the table," said
Katie who was rather bossy, "then we can see how the others
change."
Here is Billy's F:
"I'll turn my F upside-down," continued Katie,
"that's half a turn."
"A $180^o$ turn about its centre," remarked Ali.
This is what Katie's looked like:
George said, "I'll flip mine over sideways."
Here is George's F:
"That leaves me to flip my F from top to bottom,"
said Ali.
So then Ali's looked like this:
"Look, they are all different. I wonder if all the
letters are like that. Which ones shall we try?"
Katie had spelt out Miss Chan's name with four of the letters:
"Let's try with those," suggested George. So they did.
What did they find out?
"What happens if you do a half turn followed by a sideways flip?" wondered Ali. "Do you think any of the letters in the box get back to the same as they were to begin with?"
They did find some which did just that. Which letters are they?
Do these letters also go back to the same if you do a half turn followed by a flip from top to bottom?
Which times on a digital clock have a line of symmetry? Which look the same upside-down? You might like to try this investigation and find out!
What are the coordinates of this shape after it has been transformed in the ways described? Compare these with the original coordinates. What do you notice about the numbers?
A shape and space game for 2, 3 or 4 players. Be the last person to be able to place a pentomino piece on the playing board.