Mirror Images: Concepts, Solved Examples, Practice Questions & Videos

Mirror Images section is a tricky part of the reasoning ability section. In this, we will learn about a working rule for solving the problems on Mirror Images. This section is usually put in as a time filler by the examiners. Let us see more below.

Mirror Images

The image of an object as seen in a mirror is its mirror reflection or mirror image. In such an image, the right side of the object appears on the left side and vice versa. A mirror-image is therefore said to be laterally inverted and the phenomenon is called the lateral inversion.

Some letters don’t change upon reflection. In other words, they are the same as that of their Mirror Images. The letters having identical mirror images are A, H, I, M, O, T, U, V, W, X, Y. Similarly, in small letters we have i, l, o, v, w, and x that have the same Mirror Image as that of their original images. The number 1 and 8 are the only two numbers with their identical mirror images.

Any object that has a bilateral symmetry will have its mirror image the same as that of the object. By that, we mean that if you were to draw a line from top to bottom that splits the object into two parts, such that both the parts can be superimposed onto each other, the object’s Mirror Image will be same as that of the object’s image.

Browse more Topics under Images

Working Rule For Mirror Images

Let us consider an example below.

Mirror Images

From the above figure, it is clear that in a mirror top and bottom of an image doesn’t change but the Left Hand Side (L H S) of real image becomes the Right Hand Side (R H S) in mirror image and the R H S in the real image becomes the L H S in the mirror image.

There are basically two types of questions in this section. The first kind is the letter/ Number Images. Here, you will have a combination of letters/words/numbers. We have to find their mirror images out of given alternatives. The second is the Geometrical Images questions. In this type of questions, we deal with figures having defined geometrical shapes. Let us see some solved examples to understand the concept better.

Solved Examples For You

Directions: In each of the following questions, four alternatives are given, which follow the word or number marked as a question. You have to select one alternative, which exactly matches with the mirror of the word/ number in the question.

Q1: Which among the following illustrations specifies the correct mirror image of O B S T I N A T E ?

Mirror Images

Answer: The first step is to check the first and the last letters. We know that the reflection at a mirror is equivalent to an inversion. In other words, we say that in a mirror top and bottom of an image doesn’t change but the Left Hand Side (L H S) of real image becomes the Right Hand Side (R H S) in mirror image and the R H S in the real image becomes the L H S in the mirror image.

A time-saving trick is to eliminate the letters whose mirror image is the same as that of the original shape. The first letter in the mirror image of O B S T I N A T E should be the mirror image of E which is only in the option (a). Therefore the correct option is (a).

Q2: Which among the following illustrations specifies the correct mirror image of P R O C R A S T I N A T E ?

Mirror Images

Answer: Let us see the first letter in the mirror image of P R O C R A S T I N A T E. The first letter in the mirror image would be the last letter in the original word P R O C R A S T I N A T E, which is E. The only option that has its first letter as the mirror image of E is option (b). Therefore (b) is the correct option.

Practice Questions

Directions: In each of the following questions, there are four alternatives , which follow the word or number marked as a question. You have to select one alternative, which exactly matches with the mirror of the word/ number in the question.

Q1: Which among the following illustrations specifies the correct mirror image of P R E C A R I O U S?