A shape is drawn on a centimetre grid. Write down the order of rotational symmetry of the shape.

Answer

The shape shown on the grid is a rectangle. To find the order of rotational symmetry, we need to determine how many times the shape looks exactly the same when rotated by multiples of 360 degrees, before completing a full 360-degree rotation. The center of rotation for a rectangle is its geometric center. 1. **Initial position:** The rectangle is in its original orientation. 2. **Rotate by 90 degrees:** If we rotate the rectangle by 90 degrees, it will not look the same as the original, as its longest side will now be vertical instead of horizontal. 3. **Rotate by 180 degrees:** If we rotate the rectangle by 180 degrees, it will look exactly the same as its original orientation. The longest side will again be horizontal, and the shortest side vertical, just like the initial position. 4. **Rotate by 270 degrees:** If we rotate the rectangle by 270 degrees (or -90 degrees), it will again not look the same as the original; the longest side will be vertical. 5. **Rotate by 360 degrees:** Rotating by 360 degrees brings the shape back to its initial position, which is always counted as one instance of symmetry. So, within a full 360-degree rotation, the rectangle looks the same in two positions (at 0 degrees and at 180 degrees). Therefore, the order of rotational symmetry for a rectangle is 2.