How Do We Graph Dilations?

Out of all the types of transformations, dilation is probably the easiest one. To start off, Dilation is a type of transformation that causes the image to either enlarge or shrink from its original size. The dilation is all based on a Scale Factor. A Scale Factor is the ratio by which the image enlarges or shrinks.

• If the scale factor is greater than 1 (>1), then the image is enlarged.
• If the scale factor is greater than 0and less than 1 (>0 and <1), then the image shrinks.

To actually find the exact coordinates of the new image, you multiply each point (both x and y), by the scale factor and once you find the answer, you plot the new points on the graph.



This is an example of a dilated figure. The original figure is the pink triangle and the new figure is the blue one.