Tetrahedron rotation symmetry group

No, I don’t actually know what it means. Yes, I have the words to accompany it. No, they don’t help me understand it. Yes, I understand the words individually. No, I don’t comprehend the words in the sentences given. Yes, I posted this because it’s shiny.

250px-Tetrahedral_group_2.svg.png Symmetry is a foundational concept in several sub-disciplines of mathematics, particularly geometry and abstract algebra. The rotation symmetry group of the tetrahedron (shown here) associates the 12 different orientations of a tetrahedron with two kinds of spatial rotation that rearrange those orientations: a 120° rotation around each of the 4 vertices (reddish arrows), and 180° rotation through opposite edges (blue arrows). Diagrams illustrating the symmetries of a mathematical object in this format are called cycle graphs.

Oh, and yes – it is something I picked up from Wikipedia – possibly the greatest resource in the known universe.

Technorati Tags: ,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>