Getting Started: Desmos Geometry

Welcome! The Desmos Geometry Tool is a powerful and interactive workspace that allows you to visualize and explore plane geometry through construction, measurement, transformations, and more! Get started with the tips below, or check out the Geometry User Guide.

Creating Your First Construction

When you visit the Geometry tool, you’ll see the four main components:

Geometry Toolbar | Graph Paper | Token Navigator | Expression List

 

Geometry Toolbar

The Geometry toolbar is the menu along the top containing all of the available construction tools. You can use these tools to construct points, various types of lines, circles, angles, and polygons. You can also select items with the select tool to edit or transform them.

GIF Showing the selection of different tools in the toolbar, such as the different types of lines (now including vectors), point selection, circles and angles.

 

Graph Paper

The graph paper is where construction takes place. You can insert items into this space using the geometry toolbar or the expression list. Items on the graph paper are dynamic. For example, with the select tool, you can click draggable points to move them and see how that movement affects the overall construction. You can also pan with the mouse and zoom with the zoom buttons.

GIF briefly showing panning, zooming, and selecting / dragging draggable points in a simple construction.

 

Token Navigator

The token navigator is at the top of the expression list (to the right of the ‘add item’ button). Here, you can see token references for the objects you construct on the graph paper. Hover over hidden tokens to reveal the location of those objects or select tokens to change the object's properties. You can also click and drag a token into the expression list to work with it algebraically or give it a name.

GIF showing a point token and an intersection token being dragged down to the expression list.  Then, the point token being moved around the graph paper at the coordinate of the point updating in the expression list.

 

Expression List

The expression list is the panel on the left side of the screen where you can enter expressions and functions. If you’re familiar with the Desmos Graphing Calculator, you’ll notice this part is the same! You can see a list of available functions by opening the Desmos keyboard on the bottom left. Functions specific to geometry can be found under the headings ‘geometry tools,’ ‘properties & measurements,’ and ‘transformations.’ In the Geometry User Guide, you will find a list of available functions, the arguments they take, and an example of each.

GIF showing typing out one of the geometry functions such as intersection() and using it to show the intersection of two circles and labeling the intersection with its coordiates.  Also shows the list of Geometry tols, properties and measurements and transformation options from the function menu.

 

Save and Share Your Construction

You can save your constructions to view and edit them later by clicking the blue ‘save’ button on the top left next to the construction title. If you press the save button while signed out, you will be prompted to sign in or create an account. You can also access all of your previously saved constructions by clicking the hamburger button on the top left.

Share your construction by clicking on the ‘share graph’ button in the top right corner next to your account name. Use this menu to copy your construction’s unique link. You can send this link to anyone, and they’ll be able to see your construction.

GIF showing the saving of a graph, name it something like “My construction”, then sharing using the Share Graph button and showing the different options: copy link, print, export and embed.

 

Learn More by Topic

Transformations

Connections Between Geometry and Algebra

Polygons

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