Practice Composition of Transformations in Math

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

Quick Recap

Composition of transformations applies two or more transformations in sequence to a figure, where the output of one transformation becomes the input of the next. The order matters because transformation composition is generally not commutative.

Order matters, like doing rotate then reflect versus reflect then rotate.

Showing a random 20 of 50 problems.

Example 1

easy
Composing two translations gives what?

Example 2

medium
Composing two dilations centered at the same point with factors 2 and 3 gives what?

Example 3

easy
What is a composition of transformations?

Example 4

challenge
Prove that every rigid motion of the plane is a composition of at most three reflections.

Example 5

hard
Find the image of (4,1)(4,1) under reflection in the line y=xy=x followed by translation 2,3\langle -2,3\rangle, then explain why swapping the order generally fails.

Example 6

medium
Point (1,2)(1,2) is reflected over the x-axis, then translated by (3,0)(3,0). Find its image.

Example 7

easy
Point Q(2,3)Q(2, -3) is translated by 1,5\langle 1, 5 \rangle and then reflected over the xx-axis. Find the final image.

Example 8

hard
Triangle ABCABC with A(1,2)A(1,2), B(3,2)B(3,2), C(2,5)C(2,5) is dilated by factor 22 about origin, then reflected over the xx-axis. Find the image vertices.

Example 9

medium
Triangle with vertices A(1,1)A(1,1), B(4,1)B(4,1), C(1,3)C(1,3) is translated by 2,3\langle 2,3\rangle then reflected over the xx-axis. Find the new vertices.

Example 10

medium
Apply to (2,3)(2,-3): rotate 90°90° counterclockwise about origin, then rotate 180°180° about origin. What single rotation does this equal, and what is the image?

Example 11

hard
A point is dilated by factor 33 about (0,0)(0,0), then dilated by factor 12\tfrac{1}{2} about (0,0)(0,0). What single dilation does this equal, and what is the image of (4,2)(4,-2)?

Example 12

medium
Show that reflecting over y=xy=x then over the xx-axis is NOT the same as doing them in the opposite order, using the point (2,5)(2,5).

Example 13

medium
Point E(3,2)E(-3,2) is reflected over the line y=xy=x, then rotated 90°90° clockwise about the origin. Find EE''.

Example 14

medium
What single transformation does the identity followed by a 90°90° rotation about the origin equal?

Example 15

medium
What is a glide reflection?

Example 16

easy
Point P(2,5)P(2,5) undergoes the translation 3,1\langle -3,1\rangle followed by 4,2\langle 4,-2\rangle. Find PP''.

Example 17

easy
Composing two rotations about the same center gives what?

Example 18

easy
A point is translated by (2,3)(2,3) then by (4,1)(4,-1). Find the single equivalent translation vector.

Example 19

medium
Two mirror lines intersect at 35°. A double reflection rotates a figure by how much?

Example 20

hard
Triangle ABCABC with A(1,0)A(1,0), B(3,0)B(3,0), C(2,2)C(2,2) is rotated 90°90° counterclockwise about the origin, then reflected over the yy-axis. Find the final vertices.