12.

2 Linear Transformations
As we have seen, we can rotate any point in the plane 90◦ counterclockwise around the
origin by switching the two coordinates and negating the first one:

(5, 2) 7−→ (−2, 5) .

This transformation is shown in Figure 1.

This transformation is equivalent to multiplying by the matrix
" #
0 1
A 
−1 0
a Figure 1: A 90◦ counterclockwise
For example,
rotation.
" #" # " #
0 1 5 −2

−1 0 2 5
and more generally
" #" # " #
0 1 x −y

−1 0 y x
This is a simple example of a linear transformation.

Linear Transformations
A transformation of the plane is called a linear transformation if it corresponds to
multiplying each point ( x, y ) by some 2 × 2 matrix A, i.e.
" # " #
x x
7 → A
− .
y y

It turns out that many geometric transformations of the plane are linear transforma-
tions, including:

1. Rotation of the plane by any angle around the origin.

2. Reflection of the plane across any line that goes through the origin.

EXAMPLE 1
−1 0 
 
Describe the linear transformation of the plane corresponding to the matrix  .
 0 1 

SOLUTION We have
 −1 0   x  −x 
    
    
 0 1 y  y 


so this matrix negates the x-coordinate of each point of the plane. Geometrically, this
corresponds to reflection across the y-axis , as shown in Figure 2.

a Figure 2: Reflection across the y-axis.

 LINEAR TRANSFORMATIONS 2

Finding the Matrix

There is a nice trick that can be used to find the matrix for a given transformation.

Column Trick
If A is a 2 × 2 matrix, then
" # " #
1 0
A and A
0 1

are the first and second columns of A, respectively.

For example,
" #" # " # " #" # " #
1 2 1 1 1 2 0 2
 and 
3 4 0 3 3 4 1 4
The following example shows how to use this trick to find the matrix for a linear
transformation.

EXAMPLE 2
Find the matrix for a 45◦ counterclockwise rotation of the plane about the origin.
 
SOLUTION This transformation is shown in Figure 3. Note that (1, 0) maps to √1 , √1 and
  2 2
(0, 1) maps to − √1 , √1 . If A is the matrix for this transformation, it follows that
2 2

 √1   − √1 
1 0
   
2 2
A     and A    
    
 0   √1   1   √1 
2  2 
so these vectors are the columns of A. We conclude that
 √1 − √1 
2 2
A  
 
a Figure 3: A 45◦ rotation of the plane.  √1  2
√1
2



The previous example is a special case of a more general formula.

2 × 2 Rotation Matrices
The matrix
cos θ −sin θ
" #

sin θ cos θ
rotates the plane counterclockwise around the origin by an angle of θ.

The justification for this formula is shown in Figure 4. If A is the matrix for this
transformation, then
cos θ −sin θ
" # " # " # " #
1 0
A  and A 
a Figure 4: A rotation of the plane by an 0 sin θ 1 cos θ
angle of θ .
so these vectors are the columns of A.
 LINEAR TRANSFORMATIONS 3

A Closer Look Transformations of R3

We can use 3 × 3 matrices to describe certain transformations in three dimensions, such as
rotation around a line through the origin, or reflection across a plane through the origin. Such
a transformation is called a linear transformation of R3 .
For example, consider the 90◦ rotation of R3 about the x-axis shown in Figure 5. How can
we find a 3 × 3 matrix A for this transformation? Well, it is obvious from the figure that
 1   1   0   0   0   0 
A  0    0  A  1    0  A  0    −1  .
           
           
0 0 0 1 1  0 
Then these three vectors must be the three columns of A. We conclude that
 1 0 0 
a Figure 5: A 90
◦ rotation around the A   0

0

−1 
x -axis.  
0 1 0 

EXERCISES

1–4 Give a geometric description of the linear transformation corresponding to the

given matrix.
" # " #
1 0 0 1
1. 2.
0 2 −1 0

3–4 Find the matrix for the reflection of R2 across the given line.

3. the line y  x 4. the x-axis

5–6 Find the matrix for the given rotation of R2 around the origin.

5. 135◦ counterclockwise 6. 30◦ clockwise

7. The following figure shows a rectangle in the plane.

Find the new coordinates of the four vertices if this rectangle is rotated 45◦ counter-
clockwise around the origin.