WhatarethecoordinatesoftriangleABC?

Thisquestionisabittricky.

Firstandforemost,whatarethe
coordinatesofABC?Ifwedont
knowthisimportantinformation,well
neversolvethequestion!

Ifyoucountthesquares,Aisat(5,
3),Bisat(1,5),andCisat(1,1).
Theresthatmysterytakencareof.

Thenextthingweneedtoknowis
theslopeoftheredline.Ifwe
cannotfindtheslopeofthelineofreflection,wewontbeabletoreflect
thefigureacrosstogetanimage,sinceeverypointinthepreimage
connectswiththecorrespondingpointsintheimagewithaline
perpendiculartothelineofreflection.

Sowhatstheslope?Well,theslopeisequaltothechangeinyoverthe
changeinx.ByobservationIcanseethatwhenthexvalueincreasesby3,
theyvalueincreasesby1.Therefore,theslopeis1/3.

Nextweneedtofindtheslopeperpendiculartothatline.The
PerpendicularPostulatestatesthatiftwolinesonacoordinategridhave
slopesinwhichtheirproductis1,thentheyreperpendicular.Sowhat
numbercanyoumultiplyto1/3inordertoget1?Wecanexpressthiswith
anequation:

(1/3)x=1

Tosolveforx,wecanmultiplybothsidesby3becausetheMultiplication
PropertyofEqualitystatesthatwecan.Thatresultswith:

x=3

Sotheslopeofalineperpendiculartotheredlineofreflectionis3.

Letsusethisinformationtofindthe
pointsintheimageABC.Todraw
areflectedimage,youfirstdrawa
perpendicularlinethrougheach
pointinthepreimage.Sousingthe
slope3,wecandrawthreelines
passingthrougheachpointand
intersectingtheredlineataright
angle.Thisformsthreepointsof
intersection.Whatnext?

Well,letslookattheselineslike
segments.Theendpointsarethe
pointsthatmakeuptheimageandpreimage,andthemidpointofsaid
segmentsaretheintersectionsalongtheredline.Inthepreviousunitof
Geometrywelearnedhowtofindanotherendpointofasegmentusing
oneendpointandthemidpoint.Well,weredoingitagain.

Firstly,thecoordinatesofintersection.ThemidpointofsegmentAAis(3,
3),themidpointofsegmentBBis(3,1),andthemidpointofsegment
CCis(0,2).Wellusethisinformation,withthecoordinatesofthe
preimage,todeterminewheretheimageislocated.

ThetranslationvectorfromAtoitsrespectivemidpointis<2,6>.You
couldderivethisresultfromthecoordinatesorbycountingsquaresonthe
graph.ThetranslationvectorfromBtoitsrespectivemidpointisthesame
astheprevious,andtheonefromCtoitsrespectivemidpointis<1,3>.
Sonow,ifweapplythesetranslationvectorstothemidpointsofeach
segment,wellfindthepointsthatmakeuptheimage.

Applying<2,6>to(3,3)givesusA,whichislocatedat...(1,9).
Applying<2,6>to(3,1)givesusB,whichislocatedat...(5,7).Finally,
applying<1,3>to(0,2)givesusC,whichislocatedat...(1,5).

Andwiththat,wevesolvedtheproblem!Thecoordinatesare...

A:(1,9)
B:(5,7)
C:(1,5)

DONE.