Do your students think a triangle can be constructed from any three given line segments? Do they believe that a transformation affects only the pre-image--not the whole plane? Do they understand that examples--no matter how many they find--cannot prove a conjecture but one counterexample is sufficient to disprove it? "What tasks can you…

When examining transformations of the plane in geometry, teachers typically have students experiment with transformations of polygons. Students are usually quick to notice patterns with ordered pairs. The Common Core State Standard, Geometry, Congruence 2 (G-CO.2), requires students to describe transformations as functions that take points in the…

Presents a classification of factorable cubics and shows how the associated factor graphs determine domains of disconnected branches and furnish a skeletal framework for the number and shape of the branches. Illustrates three dimensional visualization and examines level curves and spikes of surfaces. (KHR)

Illustrated is how students can be directed to move from a geometric to an algebraic mode of thought and back again in linear algebra, thereby deepening their understanding. Rotations and line reflections in the plane are used as the example. (MNS)

A procedure using calculators is described to test Ulam's conjecture that all positive integers converge to 1, if subject to certain iterated transformations. (MNS)

Presents a way of using greeting cards created by graphing calculators to teach the transformation of functions. Illustrates the steps of making a calculator greeting card and students' descriptions of transformations. (KHR)

Presented with appropriate formulas and illustrations are five lessons suitable for college mathematics undergraduate students, including Pi and the limit of (sin alpha)/alpha, the structure of orthogonal transformations, a simple proof of Zorn's Lemma, the converse of Liouville's Theorem, and visualizing the p-adic integers. (JJK)

Introduces the Euler line theorem and the nine-point-circle theorem which emphasize transformations and the power of functions in a geometric concept. Presents definitions and proofs of theorems. (ASK)

Presents an activity on transformations that employs a story from children's literature. Emphasizes that books and stories that use mathematical problem solving not only engage children in the narrative but also give them opportunities to see how mathematics is used in everyday life. (ASK)

This game offers an opportunity for students in grades 4-6 to sharpen their spatial skills and enrich their geometric experience. It presents such concepts as reflection, translation, and rotation (flip, slide, turn). Templates for the game are included. (MNS)

Presents a qualitative and global method of graphing functions that involves transformations of the graph of a known function in the cartesian coordinate system referred to as graphic operators. Explains how the method has been taught to students and some comments about the results obtained. (MDH)

Mathematics can be used to analyze musical rhythms, to study the sound waves that produce musical notes, to explain why instruments are tuned, and to compose music. This book explores the relationship between mathematics and music through proportions, patterns, Fibonacci numbers or the Golden Ratio, geometric transformations, trigonometric…

Presents a geometric problem and illustrates four different ways to solve it: (1) a synthetic approach; (2) a coordinate approach; (3) a vector approach; and (4) a transformation approach. (KHR)

Presents a map-projection activity that combines mathematics and geography through investigating the proportion of land and water that covers the earth. Focuses on helping students become familiar with characteristics of different projections or representations of the world while estimating and graphing and encouraging them to investigate the…

This article describes the functionality and use of a computer-based tool, called MultiMap, for investigating the properties of mappings of the plane onto itself. Examples are given of activities appropriate for mathematics students from middle school to college. (LZ)