Question

Jack discovers that the orientation of a triangle is counterclockwise. He then reflects the triangle over the y-axis. What is the orientation of the reflected figure? Why is the orientation now clockwise? Is it because we see it flipped? Thank you.

Answer 1

Yes, when a triangle is reflected over the y-axis, its orientation changes from counterclockwise to clockwise. This occurs because the reflection over the y-axis causes the triangle's spatial relationship to be reversed. Each point of the triangle is mirrored across the y-axis, resulting in a flipped image. As a result, the direction of traversal around the triangle also changes, leading to the clockwise orientation.