Rotation (mathematics)Rotation in mathematics is a concept originating in geometry. Any rotation is a motion of a certain space that preserves at least one point. It can describe, for example, the motion of a rigid body around a fixed point. Rotation can have a sign (as in the sign of an angle): a clockwise rotation is a negative magnitude so a counterclockwise turn has a positive magnitude. A rotation is different from other types of motions: translations, which have no fixed points, and (hyperplane) reflections, each of them having an entire (n − 1)-dimensional flat of fixed points in a n-dimensional space.
Point reflectionIn geometry, a point reflection (also called a point inversion or central inversion) is an transformation of affine space in which every point is reflected across a specific fixed point. A point reflection is an involution: applying it twice is the identity transformation. It is equivalent to a homothetic transformation with scale factor −1. The point of inversion is also called homothetic center. An object that is invariant under a point reflection is said to possess point symmetry; if it is invariant under point reflection through its center, it is said to possess central symmetry or to be centrally symmetric.
Euclidean groupIn mathematics, a Euclidean group is the group of (Euclidean) isometries of a Euclidean space ; that is, the transformations of that space that preserve the Euclidean distance between any two points (also called Euclidean transformations). The group depends only on the dimension n of the space, and is commonly denoted E(n) or ISO(n). The Euclidean group E(n) comprises all translations, rotations, and reflections of ; and arbitrary finite combinations of them.
Point groups in three dimensionsIn geometry, a point group in three dimensions is an isometry group in three dimensions that leaves the origin fixed, or correspondingly, an isometry group of a sphere. It is a subgroup of the orthogonal group O(3), the group of all isometries that leave the origin fixed, or correspondingly, the group of orthogonal matrices. O(3) itself is a subgroup of the Euclidean group E(3) of all isometries. Symmetry groups of geometric objects are isometry groups. Accordingly, analysis of isometry groups is analysis of possible symmetries.
Space groupIn mathematics, physics and chemistry, a space group is the symmetry group of a repeating pattern in space, usually in three dimensions. The elements of a space group (its symmetry operations) are the rigid transformations of the pattern that leave it unchanged. In three dimensions, space groups are classified into 219 distinct types, or 230 types if chiral copies are considered distinct. Space groups are discrete cocompact groups of isometries of an oriented Euclidean space in any number of dimensions.
Mirror imageA mirror image (in a plane mirror) is a reflected duplication of an object that appears almost identical, but is reversed in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface. As an optical effect it results from reflection off from substances such as a mirror or water. It is also a concept in geometry and can be used as a conceptualization process for 3-D structures. Reflectional symmetry In geometry, the mirror image of an object or two-dimensional figure is the formed by reflection in a plane mirror; it is of the same size as the original object, yet different, unless the object or figure has reflection symmetry (also known as a P-symmetry).
Orbifold notationIn geometry, orbifold notation (or orbifold signature) is a system, invented by the mathematician William Thurston and promoted by John Conway, for representing types of symmetry groups in two-dimensional spaces of constant curvature. The advantage of the notation is that it describes these groups in a way which indicates many of the groups' properties: in particular, it follows William Thurston in describing the orbifold obtained by taking the quotient of Euclidean space by the group under consideration.
Reflection (mathematics)In mathematics, a reflection (also spelled reflexion) is a mapping from a Euclidean space to itself that is an isometry with a hyperplane as a set of fixed points; this set is called the axis (in dimension 2) or plane (in dimension 3) of reflection. The image of a figure by a reflection is its in the axis or plane of reflection. For example the mirror image of the small Latin letter p for a reflection with respect to a vertical axis (a vertical reflection) would look like q.
Glide reflectionIn 2-dimensional geometry, a glide reflection (or transflection) is a symmetry operation that consists of a reflection over a line and then translation along that line, combined into a single operation. The intermediate step between reflection and translation can look different from the starting configuration, so objects with glide symmetry are in general, not symmetrical under reflection alone. In group theory, the glide plane is classified as a type of opposite isometry of the Euclidean plane.
IsometryIn mathematics, an isometry (or congruence, or congruent transformation) is a distance-preserving transformation between metric spaces, usually assumed to be bijective. The word isometry is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἴσος isos meaning "equal", and μέτρον metron meaning "measure". Given a metric space (loosely, a set and a scheme for assigning distances between elements of the set), an isometry is a transformation which maps elements to the same or another metric space such that the distance between the image elements in the new metric space is equal to the distance between the elements in the original metric space.