Every card in Copying the change

The change that links them, in words

HintPut a name to what happened — turned, flipped, moved.

WhyA move you can say — it has spun a quarter-turn clockwise — is a move you can then apply. A vague feeling that the figure looks different is not something you can use.

Do exactly that same thing to it

HintRepeat the move on the new picture.

WhyYour answer is the third figure after the change, not a figure that happens to resemble the second one. Copy the move, never the figure.

Just one

HintA single move, not a chain of them.

WhyOne clean move — a turn, or a flip — is what these questions are built on. If you think you can see two, you have most likely read a flip as a turn.

A lopsided part, which a flip sends the other way

HintFind something that sticks out on one side only.

WhyTurning carries every part round together; flipping swaps left for right. Watch one distinctive corner and see whether it ends up on the far side of the shape.

No — the rule has not been carried out

HintSomething must happen to it.

WhyAn untouched copy is printed on purpose, because it looks reassuringly familiar. Ask whether your choice actually differs from the third figure at all.

Reject it — every part must survive

HintTurning and flipping lose nothing at all.

WhyThese moves shift a figure about; they never add or take away anything. A near-perfect choice with one piece altered is a deliberate trap, and a common one.

Which way round it went

HintClockwise, or the other one?

WhyBoth directions are usually printed as options and they look equally plausible. Trace one part of the first figure through to the place it lands in the second.

No — only the move carries across

HintThe two pictures need not match; the change must.

WhyThese questions test the rule, not the drawing. Expect the third figure to be new, and expect your answer to look nothing like the second one.

Undo the change and see if the third figure comes back

HintRun the move backwards from your choice.

WhyWorking the rule in reverse catches a wrong direction straight away: if going back does not land on the figure you started from, the option you picked is not the one.

3

HintA worked pair, then the one you must change.

WhyTwo make the example and the third is yours to work on. Counting them is a quick way to tell this layout apart from a row that simply carries on.

1

HintExactly one, never two.

WhyIf two of the choices seem to work, the rule you named is not the one the pair actually shows. Go back to the first two figures and look again.

third and matches

HintThe one left over, and the shape that pairs with it.

WhyTwo steps, in that order. Naming the move first stops the printed options from talking you into a rule that was never there.