Question

What is the easiest way to explain how to dilate an object/ shape

Answer 1

  Dilation - of a polygon A transformation in which a polygon is enlarged or reduced by a given factor around a given center point. Try this Adjust the slider on the right to change the scale factor. Drag the center point O. Dilation is where the polygon grows or shrinks but keeps the same overall shape. It's a little like zooming in or out on a camera. In the figure above, the polygon is a rectangle ABCD. As you adjust the slider on the right, the transformed rectangle A'B'C'D gets bigger and smaller, but remains the same shape

Answer 2

To dilate a shape means ur either going to make it larger or ur going to make it smaller. U will do this by multiplying every side of ur shape by a certain number.

if u r dilating it from a smaller shape to a larger shape, u would multiply it by a whole number.

if u r dilating it from a larger shape to a smaller shape, they u would multiply it by a fraction less then 1.

example :
u have a larger shape with one side measuring 6 inches...and u have another one (the smaller one) with the side that is 2 inches. To find the scale factor...it basically is set up like this : 6 * ? = 2....6x = 2....x = 2/6 which reduces to 1/3....meaning for every side of the big shape, multiply it by 2/3 to get the size of the small shape...notice how from going bigger to smaller, u r multiplying by a fraction to get the sizes of the smaller shape.

now if u have a smaller shape with a side measuring 2 inches...and a larger shape with a side measuring 6 inches (going from smaller to larger), u would multiply everything on the small shape by 3 because 2 * 3 = 6. So the scale factor would be 3. so going from smaller to larger, u r multiplying by a whole number