Dilations

A dilation is a transformation whose preimage and image are similar. A dilation is a similarity transformation, not necessarily an isometry.

Every dilation has a center and a scale factor, n.

I. Scale Factors. Use the slider to manipulate the scale factor, n. Describe the relationship between the preimage and the resulting image.

1. Let C be the center of dilation. Describe the ratio of CA' to CA.
2. For what scale factors is the dilation an enlargement? For what scale factors is the dilation a reduction?

II. Scale Factors. Use the slider to manipulate the scale factor, n. Describe the relationship between the preimage and the resulting image.

1. How does changing the center of dilation affect the image?
2. Explain how to identify the scale factor n for a given dilation.
3. Describe the transformation .
4. Describe the transformation .

III. Center of Dilation. Find the center of dilation for each of the transformations pictured below.