Rotation

Fairground carousel ride spinning passengers in circles around a tall center tower

Rotation means turning around a center.

The distance from the center to any point on the shape stays the same.

Every point makes a circle around the center:

images/rotate-example.js
Triangle rotating around a fixed point marked with a plus sign   Here a triangle is rotated around
the point marked with a "+"

Clock face with hour and minute hands rotating around the central pivot
The hands of a clock rotate around the center of the clock face.

Try It Yourself

Here you can drag the pin and try different shapes:

images/rotate-drag.js

And here you can choose an angle and see how to rotate different shapes point-by-point. Try and follow what happens each time:

images/rotate.js

Rotating a shape changes its direction, but its size and shape stay exactly the same.

Also, the center of rotation can be inside the shape, on an edge, or completely outside it!

6712, 6713, 6714, 6715, 839, 840, 2133, 2134, 3340, 3341
Transformations Reflection Translation Rotational Symmetry Geometry Index