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Occasionally it is frustrating when we cannot get ICT to do exactly what we want so it is useful to know some of the constraints of this tool.
Creating objects and viewing its measurements
- When you have a created an object, and want to fill the table with measurements, you must select it (by clicking on the object).
Accuracy of measurements
- The accuracy of any calculations is fixed when you launch the tool. You will need to consider an appropriate number of decimal places at the beginning of the task to accommodate the results of your calculation. The number of decimal places is fixed for all of the calculated values.
Angle measurements
- As there are always two angles at any point, the software defaults to measure both the acute and obtuse angles. It is possible to switch to measure the reflex angles.
Transforming shapes
- Once a shape has been transformed, it is frozen – it cannot be transformed back. If you want to retain the original coordinates and measurements, you will need to record them somewhere or save an image of the previous screen.
- It is possible to transform a shape off the screen. The coordinates and measurements for the transformed shape will be there, but you may not be able to see it.
- The software follows the usual mathematical convention of a positive angle of rotation resulting in an anticlockwise rotation. Negative angles can be used as inputs to produce a clockwise rotation.
- When a shape is transformed, occasionally the accuracy of the resulting measurements may fluctuate from the values expected due to way that the software calculates them. This should stimulate important discussions with students about accuracy and rounding.
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