PRINCIPIA · THEOREM

Rotation — preserves distances and angles, and corresponding points are equidistant from the centre

Dependencies: Ruler axiom, Protractor axiom, SAS congruence.

Statement

Let OO be a fixed point in the plane, and let θ∈[0, 2π)\theta\in[0,\,2\pi) be a fixed angle. The rotation about centre OO by angle θ\theta, RO,θR_{O,\theta}, sends each point PP to the point P′P' such that

∣OP′∣  =  ∣OP∣,∠POP′  =  θ    (signed, counterclockwise positive).|OP'| \;=\; |OP|,\qquad \angle POP' \;=\; \theta\;\;(\text{signed, counterclockwise positive}).

A rotation has three properties:

  1. Distance-preserving: any two points AA, BB and their images A′=RO,θ(A)A'=R_{O,\theta}(A), B′=RO,θ(B)B'=R_{O,\theta}(B) satisfy ∣A′B′∣=∣AB∣|A'B'| = |AB|;
  2. Angle-preserving: any three points AA, BB, CC and their images A′A', B′B', C′C' satisfy ∠ABC=∠A′B′C′\angle ABC = \angle A'B'C';
  3. Equidistant from the centre: every point keeps its distance to the centre OO, i.e. ∣OP′∣=∣OP∣|OP'|=|OP| (this is given directly by the definition).

Rotation diagram: \triangle ABC rotated about O by \theta to \triangle A'B'C', with three equal arcs

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