Translations — Sliding Points (Grades 6–8)
A translation slides a point a fixed distance in a direction, without turning or flipping it. Add the slide to each coordinate: moving (2, 3) right 4 and up 1 gives (2 + 4, 3 + 1) = (6, 4). Moving left or down means subtracting (or adding a negative).
Understanding translations on the coordinate plane
A translation slides a point a fixed distance in a direction, without turning or flipping it. Add the slide to each coordinate: moving (2, 3) right 4 and up 1 gives (2 + 4, 3 + 1) = (6, 4). Moving left or down means subtracting (or adding a negative).
Key Idea
A translation slides a point a fixed distance in a direction, without turning or flipping it. Add the slide to each coordinate: moving (2, 3) right 4 and up 1 gives (2 + 4, 3 + 1) = (6, 4). Moving left or down means subtracting (or adding a negative).
Seeing it in action
Worked example
Translate (2, 3) right 4 and up 1.
x: 2 + 4 = 6. y: 3 + 1 = 4. → (6, 4).
Right 4 and up 1 gives (6, 4).
Try a few
Translate (1, 1) right 3, up 2
Translate (5, 5) left 2, down 1
Translate (0, 0) right 6, up 6
Coordinate Quest
A calm treasure-map game for plotting, reading, and translating points on a coordinate plane.
Ready for the interactive lab?
Practice translations on the coordinate plane in Numeris with instant feedback.
Put the reasoning on paper.
Try six fraction, angle, perimeter and area questions with explained answers, for grades 4–6.
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