INTRODUCTION

When you open a sketchpad document you will get a similar screen to the one in Figure 1.

Drop Down Menus Toolbox

Figure 1

When starting Sketchpad it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the contents of the Drop Down Menus and the Toolbox.

The Drop Down Windows.

These menus contains many commands. Familiarity with what commands are available and where they are located is quite useful. The black writing indicates that those commands are available, while the gray writing indicate that those commands are not available (i.e. you need to select some geometric objects on which to apply these commands before they become available). We will now examine these menus.

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File Menu The File menu is the standard file menu for all windows applications. You can Open, Save and Print Sketchpad documents using this menu.

Edit Menu The Edit menu has the standard commands such as Cut, Copy and Paste but it also has some very important extra commands which are highlighted in the text boxes.
Enables you to animate selected objects on a sketch.

Very important command, which should be accessed at the beginning of a sketch. It enables you to set your preferences (Number of decimal places, Colour and Font size).

Setting Preferences Select Edit and Preferences. The dialog box on the right will open. From this you can select the preferences you want.

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Display Menu The Display menu as the name suggests and as can be seen from the menu on the right allows you to change colour, thickness of lines and a host of other display options.
Enables you to show, hide or label objects .

Enables you to control the speed of animating objects.

Construct Menu The Construct menu allows one to construct various elements in geometry such as mid-points, intersections, lines, rays, parallel lines, perpendicular lines, angular bisectors, circles and arcs.

Transform Menu The Transform menu allows one to construct the images of objects under translations, symmetries and rotations.

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Measure Menu The Measure menu allows one to measure the properties of objects. As we can see from the menu some of the things we can measure are length, perimeter, angles, radii, ratio, slopes and we can find equation. NB when you click on Calculate a calculator appears which we can use to perform operations.

Calculator Graph Menu The Graph menu allows one to have a Cartesian Plane and this menu enables you to draw graphs and plot functions.

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Window and Help Menus These are standard in all windows bases programs.

The Toolbox
The toolbox, as seen in the diagram below, is the column on the left of the screen, contains several tools that are frequently used in geometric constructions in GSP (selection, dragging, ruler, compass, labels, etc.). An arrow pointing to the right, as before, indicates that there are more commands inside it. If you point at a tool with the mouse, you will notice that its name appears next to it, and what it is used for appears in the left bottom corner of the document.

Selection Arrow Tool: Enables the selection of objects on screen. Point Tool: Enables points to be added to screen. Compass Tool: Enables circles to be added to screen. Straight Edge Tool: Enables lines and rays to be added to screen. Text Tool: Enables text to be added to screen. CustomTool: Enables one to save diagrams as tool. Toolbox

To show the features of GSP, a series of examples follow. Each example will introduce a different feature of the software in the context of constructing a geometric figure.

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GEOMETRY Example 1. The three angles of a triangle sum to 180o. 1. Click on the Straight Edge tool [ ] and form the first line segment of the triangle.

2. Click on one of the end points of the line segment to draw the next line segment. 3. Repeat step 2 to complete the triangle. 4. Select the sides of the triangle and go to the Display Drop Down Menu and select Line Width and then select Thick. The triangle will now have thick lines. You can also change the colour of the lines by the same selections 5. You can label the vertices of the triangle by selecting the point at each vertex, right clicking and selecting Label Point. When you do this the following dialogue box appears.

6. You can choose any label for the point and you can choose any font size using this dialogue box. Click OK when finished. 7. To measure the angles in the triangle select the points in order, selecting the point at which the angle is at as the middle click. Go to the Measure Drop Down Menu and select Angle. The measure of that angle will appear on the screen as, for example m ABC = 43o 8. Measure the other two angles in the same way. 9. Go to the Measure Drop Down Menu and select Calculate. The calculator will appear. 10. Click on for example m ABC = 43o this will appear on the calculator screen. Click + on the calculator and then m ACB, then + and mBAC. Then click OK on the Project Maths Development Team 2009 6

calculator. The sum of the three angles will sum to 1800. 11. Select one vertex of the triangle and by holding down the Left Mouse key you can change the orientation of the triangle. This will show that regardless of the orientation of the triangle the sum of the angles will be 1800. See Diagram of below. NOTE: Sometimes the angles do not add to 1800 when you look at the individual angles in the triangle. This is due to the decimal place inaccuracy. This can be change by going to Preferences in the Edit Drop Down Menu. You can set the decimal place values to get greater accuracy.

m ABC = 61 m ACB = 64 m CAB = 55 A

m ABC+m ACB+m CAB = 180

Diagram for Example 1

Example 2. Tangent to a circle and animation of the tangent. 1. Click on the Compass tool [ ] and form a circle on the screen by holding down the

Left Mouse Key and dragging outward from the point. 2. Click on Point tool and form a point on the circle. 3. Go back up the Selection Arrow tool [ Project Maths Development Team 2009 7 ] and select the point you have formed on

the circle and the centre point of the circle.

4. Go to the Construct Drop Down menu and select Segment. The radius of the circle will appear. 5. Select the radius and the point on the circle, go to the Construct Drop Down menu and select Perpendicular Line. This is the tangent to the circle at the point. 6. Select the point at which the tangent is drawn and go to the Display Drop Down menu and select Animate Point. The Animation Dialogue box (Motion Controller) will appear and the tangent will move around the circle. You can vary the animation by using the buttons on the Motion Controller.

Diagram for Example 2

Example 3. Constructing an equilateral triangle. 1. Click on the Straight Edge tool [ and B. 2. Select the Compass tool [ ] and move the mouse to one endpoint, say A. The point will ] and draw a line segment. Label the endpoints, say A

become highlighted. Hold down the Left Mouse key and drag the cursor until you are at the other end point, B. release the mouse key and a circle will be drawn with [AB] as radius. Project Maths Development Team 2009 8

3. Repeat the last procedure taking B as the starting point and A as the ending point. Another circle of the same radius will be drawn. 4. Using the Selection Arrow tool [ ] select the two circles (make sure nothing else is

selected). Go to the Construct Drop Down menu and select Intersection. The points of intersection of the circles will be shown. Label the one above [AB] as C. 5. Select in turn, the two circles and the point below [AB], right click each time and select Hide Circle and Hide Point. 6. You should be now left with three points A, B and C. 7. Click on the Straight Edge tool [ ] and draw a line segments between these points.

8. The triangle formed should be an equilateral triangle, which you can check in two ways. Method 1. Go to the Measure Drop Down menu and measure the angles. Are they all 60o? Method 1. Go to the Measure Drop Down menu and measure the lengths of the sides. Are they all equal?

m CAB = 60 m ACB = 60 m CBA = 60

m CA = 7.57 cm m CB = 7.57 cm m AB = 7.57 cm

Diagram for Example 3

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Example 4. Constructing a right triangle. 1. In order to draw an accurate diagram it is best to set the length measurements correct to two decimal places. To do this, go to the Edit Drop Down menu and select preferences. The following dialogue box will appear. Click OK when finished.

Set this to hundredths

2. Click on the Straight Edge tool [ and B.

] and draw a line segment. Label the endpoints, say A

3. Again using the Selection Arrow tool [

] select the line segment and one of the end

Points ( say B). Go to the Construct Drop Down menu and select Perpendicular Line. 4. Using the Point tool [ ] place a point on this perpendicular line. Label as C. ] select the perpendicular line, right click and Hide

5. Using the Selection Arrow tool [ this perpendicular line.

6. Using the Construct Dropdown menu construct a line segment using the points B and C. 7. Join C to A to complete the right angled triangle. This right angled can be saved in the Tool Box as follows and then you can use it again when you want to draw a right angled triangle without going through the whole process again. 1. Go to the Edit Drop Down menu and the use Select All. The right angled triangle will be selected. 2. Click on and hold down the small arrow of the Custom tool [ ] and select Create New Tool.

The following dialogue box will appear. You can name this tool by typing into the box And then clicking OK. Project Maths Development Team 2009 10

3. To reuse this tool (right angled triangle) Click on and hold down the small arrow of the Custom tool select the tool and click and drag cursour across the screen and a right angled triangle will be drawn. Example 5. Constructing a circumcircle and shading in various parts of the diagram. 1. Construct a triangle as shown before. 2. Select one of the sides and going to the Construct Drop Down menu select mid-point. 3. Select this mid-point and its line and go to the Construct Drop Down menu select Perpendicular Line. 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 above for another side of the triangle. 5. Select the two perpendicular lines and go to the Construct Drop Down menu select Intersection. This point is the circumcentre. 6. Select the two perpendicular lines and go to the Display Drop Down menu select Hide Perpendicular lines. 7. Select the circumcircle and one of the vertices in that order. Go to Construct Drop Down menu select Circle by Centre + Point. The circumcircle will be drawn. This diagram is shown below.

If you want to show shading in various parts of this diagram use the following method. 1. Select the three vertices of the triangle. Go to Construct Drop Down menu select Triangle Interior. The triangle will now be shaded in. You can change the colour of the shading by selecting the interior of the triangle, right clicking and selecting colour. Project Maths Development Team 2009 11

2. If you want to shade in the circle. Select the circumference, go to Construct Drop Down menu and select Circle Interior. You can change the colour of the shading again by right clicking which gives you this option. 3. If you want to shade in one of the sectors a different colour you need to place points close together on the circumference, select the points on the edge of the sector in correct order and the go to Construct Drop Down menu to select Polygon Interior. See the series of diagrams below.

Points selected close together. 4. Now go to Display Drop Down menu and Hide Points.

New shaded area

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COORDINATE GEOMETRY: POINTS AND LINES 1. Open a new sketch. Go to Graph Drop Down menu, Grid Form and select Square Grid. The coordinate plane will appear on the sketch.

NB. Select and Drag this point out to vary the scale.

2. By holding down the Left Mouse key and dragging you can vary the scale. Example 1. Adding Points to the Plane. 1. A point can be added to the plane in two ways. (a) by selecting the Point tool [ ] and

placing the point on the screen by clicking (b) by going to the Graph Drop Down menu and selecting Plot Points. The coordinates of the points you want to add can be entered in the dialogue box. NOTE; Using Method (a) the point can be dragged to any position but using method (b) the point is fixed to the plane. 2. When a point is plotted, by selecting and right clicking you get a series of options as shown in the diagram below.

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Select this to show label

Select this to show coordinates

3. Plot two points on the plane using the Graph Drop Down menu. Select these points and go to the Construct Drop Down menu you can select Line and this will draw the line going through the two points. If you select this line and right click you are given the option of finding the Slope and Equation of this line. The only problem with this line is that it is static so the slope and the equation are fixed. If we draw a line using a fixed point and a variable point we can see relationships between various lines. Example 2 Showing slopes and equations of lines. 1. Plot two points on the plane one using the Graph Drop Down menu and the other using the Point tool [ ]. Select these points and go to the Construct Drop Down menu you can

select Line and this will draw the line going through the two points. If you select this line and right click you are given the option of finding the Slope and Equation of this line. Make sure these measurement values are set to hundredths by using the Edit Dropdown menu and Preferences. One of the points on this line is movable so we can move the line to various positions and see the equation and the slope changing. This enables us to see the relationship between the slopes of various lines and their equations clicking

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Example 3. Point of intersection between two given lines. 1. Given the equations of two lines such as y = x + 4 and 2x + 3y = 2. Plot each of these lines using the Graph Drop Down menu and selecting New Function. The New Function dialogue box will open as shown below.

2. Type in each function into the window. You must type each equation as a function so for the first one type in x + 4 and for the second one type in (-2x + 2)/3. Click OK after each and the functions will be shown on the screen. 3. Select each function in turn and go to Graph Drop Down menu and select Plot New Function. The two lines will be drawn on the plane. 4. To find the point of intersection of the lines, select the Point tool [ ] and hover over the

point of intersection until the two lines are highlighted. Click in the intersection and the point of intersection will be shown. You can label this point and find its coordinates by selecting it and right clicking.

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Translations, Central Symmetry, Axial Symmetry and Enlargements. Example 4. Translations To show a translation let us take an example. Find the coordinates of the image of the point (2,-1) under the translation (1,1) (5,2). 1. Open a new file. 2. Using the Graph Drop Down menu and selecting Plot Points plot the three points (2,-1), (1,1) and (5,2) on the diagram. 3. Select the points (1,1) and (5,2) in that order go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Mark Vector. Select and join the points using the Construct menu. 4. Double click on the point you wish to translate, (2,-1), then select it and go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Translate the following dialogue box will appear.

5. Click on translate making sure that the Marked circle is ticked. The point will now be translated. Join and label the points.

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Example 5. Symmetries To show symmetries let us take an example. Find the coordinates of the image of the point (3,4) under (i) Axial symmetry in x axis Sx. (ii) Axial symmetry in y axis Sy (iii) Central symmetry in the origin S(0,0). (iv) Central symmetry in the point (1,1) S(1,1). 1. Plot the point (3,4) as explained above. (i) Double click on the x axis to mark as the axis of symmetry. Select the point (3,4) and go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Reflect. Right click to mark the coordinates of the reflected point. (ii) Double click on the y axis to mark as the axis of symmetry. Select the point (3,4) and go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Reflect. Right click to mark the coordinates of the reflected point. (iii) Double click on the origin (0,0) to mark as the centre of symmetry. Select the point (3,4) and go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Rotate. A dialogue box will open and type in180o or if it shows radians. Click rotate and the point will be rotated by 180o which is the same as reflecting in a point. Right click to mark the coordinates of the reflected point. (iv) Plot the point (1,1) and double click on it to mark as the centre of symmetry. Select the point (3,4) and go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Rotate. A dialogue box will open and type in180o or if it shows radians. Click rotate and the point will be rotated by 180o which is the same as reflecting in a point. Right click to mark the coordinates of the reflected point. Example 6. Enlargements To show an enlargement let us take an example. Show the image of a triangle ABC under an enlargement of scale factor 2. The centre of the enlargement being O. 1. Open a new file. 2. Using the Straightedge tool [ 3. Using the Point tool [ ] construct a triangle and label the vertices ABC.

] plot a point to the left of the triangle and label as O. 17

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4. Double click on the point O to mark as centre. Select the triangle ABC and its vertices. Go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Dilate. The dialogue box below will appear.

Type in a Fixed Ratio of 2 : 1 and click on Dilate. The image triangle will be fromed. 5. To show the construction lines go to the Straightedge tool and hold down the small arrow until you get the other choices [ ]. Click on the Ray [ and then click on the

point O, then A and release. Do the same for the point O and the points B and C.

Enlargement of ABC. Scale factor 2

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COORDINATE GEOMETRY: CIRCLE We can draw a circle in four ways (i) by using the Compass tool [[ ]. (ii) By plotting two points and going to the Construct Drop Down menu and selecting Circle by Centre + Point. (iii) By drawing a line segment, selecting the segment and one of the end points, going to the Construct Drop Down menu and selecting Circle by Centre + Radius. NOTE if you go to the Measure Drop Down menu and measure the length of the line segment you will be able to drag the end point of the line segment to draw a circle of specific radius. (iv) By entering the equation of the circle from the Graph Drop Down menu. When you select New Function you can type in the equation of the circle in the form of f(x) = . This only works for circles with centre (0,0) as it is difficult to write other circles with centre not at (0,0) in this form. If you were drawing x2 + y2 = 25 you need to rewrite it in the form of y = (25 x2). To do this go to Graph Drop Down menu and select New Function and the following window will appear.

To type in click on Functions and select sqrt and dont forget the brackets when typing in (25 x2). Note to type in the square in x2 type x, then the hat button [ but this time type in y = - (25 x2). ]. When you click OK you will only get a semi circle. To get the bottom half of the circle you need to repeat the above procedure

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Example 1 Show that the circles x2 + y2 + 2x + 2y 7 = 0 and x2 + y2 - 2x + 4y - 4 = 0 have two points of intersection. Hence find the length of the common chord. 1. The circle x2 + y2 + 2x + 2y 7 = 0 has centre (-1,1) and radius 3 and the circle x2 + y2 - 2x + 4y - 4 = 0 has centre (1,-2) and radius 3 and the circle. 2. Draw the two circles by putting in the centres and two a point on each circle and using the Construct Drop Down menu and Circle by Centre + Point. 3. To show that the two circles cut in two places select both circles and using the Construct Drop Down menu and Intersection the two pints are shown. 4. Select both points and using the Construct Drop Down menu and Segment draw the line segment between the two points. 5. Select the Measure Drop Down menu to measure the length of the line segment.

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Example 2 Find the equation of the image of the circle x2 + y2 + 4x 6y 12 = 0 under the translation (5,2) (10,1) 1. The circle x2 + y2 + 4x 6y 12 = 0 has centre (-2,3) and radius 5. 2. Draw the circle by putting in the centre and a point (3,3) which is on the circle, then using the Construct Drop Down menu and Circle by Centre + Point. 3. Using the Graph Drop Down menu and selecting Plot Points plot the points (5,2) and (10,1). 4. Select the points (5,2) and (10,1) in that order go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Mark Vector. Select and join the points using the Construct menu. 5. Select the circle and go to the Transform Drop Down menu and select Translate and the following dialogue box will appear.

6. Click on Translate making sure that the Marked circle is ticked. The image circle will now be . appear.

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TRIGONOMETRY Unit Circle To show a point travelling around a unit circle and to show the polar coordinates of that point 1. Construct a circle with centre (0,0) with radius of 1 unit. 2. Using the Point tool place a point on the circle in the first quadrant. Label this point as (x,y) by selecting it and using Label. 3. Select the point again, right click and select Abscissa (x). Repeat for Ordinate (y). 4. Select each text box with the Abscissa (x) Ordinate (y) right click and select Properties. Type in cos for the Abscissa (x) and sin for the Ordinate (y). 5. Select the point (x,y) and go to Display Dropdown menu to animate the point. 6. You can pause the animation at various stages to see the values for cos and sin in the various quadrants. This demonstrates the values of All, Sin, Tan and Cos in the various quadrants.

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