Math Playground
Activities

Make an Alien Mask

Plot, plot, plot — and a face from another world stares back.

More coordinates, weirder shape. A face from another world appears, point by point. Same skill as the T-Rex, but with extra eyes.

Flip the shape
Flip: in the y-axis

Each point (x, y) maps to (−x, y). Distances and angles stay the same — only the handedness flips.

original image

Mirror coordinates do half the work

Give the alien a symmetric face and you only have to plot one side. If the left eye is at (3, 5), the right eye is at (−3, 5) — flip the sign of x and you've reflected across the vertical axis. Plot the left half, mirror every point, done.

Extra eyes, antennae, fangs: as long as the mask is left-right symmetric, each feature you place at (x, y) gets a free twin at (−x, y). You're drawing with reflection symmetry whether you mean to or not.

Your turn

The alien's left fang tip is at (4, −6). Where is the right fang tip on a left-right symmetric face?

Symmetric features like eyes use mirror coordinates: if (3, 5) is the left eye, (−3, 5) is the right. You're drawing with reflection symmetry.