Symmetry

Finite and Infinite Patterns

 what is symmetry?

Symmetry is an oft-used term though not always in the same precise way.

Symmetry is bound up with nature - many natural patterns exhibit

symmetry.

Symmetry
with determines
simple tools and defines the shape and many of the properties
associated with shape – this is particularly true in crystallography and the
physics of natural materials and phenomena.

Humans and animals exhibit ‘bilateral’ symmetry - a balance about a

central axis.
 symmetry

Symmetry is about

being well balanced

being well proportioned

beauty

aesthetics

…
 symmetry is immunity to change

Bilateral symmetry implies an axis

about which there is likeness of
appearance.

For a vertical axis of symmetry, the left

and right halves look the same.

That is, we can flip the left and right sides about the axis and get the
same shape or figure.
an object may have many axes of bilateral symmetry

star fish shape

rotating a shape does not change its parameters
symmetry is a compositional device
symmetry

has fascinated designers,

mathematicians and
physicists from many ages
and from many cultures

a page from 

Owen Jones’ 

Grammar of Ornament
patterns and designs with symmetry
Leaf-shaped element,
cotton print block. India

Engraved gourd, Luba, Zaire 


(Musee Royal de I' Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium)

Ceremonial digging board, lca Valley, Peru

Two-dimensional pattern on a lime container Two-dimensional pattern

from Madang District, New Guinea Sleeping hammock, Cashinahua, Peru

Cylinder unrolled to show band design Truncated two-dimensional pattern


Stamp, pre-Columbian, Mexico. Chiefs blanket, Third Phase, Navajo
Finite motif on a shard 

Mesa Verde black-on-white

One-dimensional design on a
shard Santa Fe black-on-white

Finite motif on a shard 


McElmo black-on-white

Two-dimensional pattern on a
shard American Southwest
 Ceramic design,
Cochlti Pueblo

Ceramic designs, San Ildefonso Pueblo.

Incised ceramic design,


Mississippian tradition, American Southeast
 motif and pattern

Twofold (180°) rotation, finite design

Twofold (180°) rotation, one dimensional pattern

 motif and pattern

Twofold (180°) rotation, two dimensional pattern

 change

In the visual world, changes happen through ‘transformations’ or ‘motions’

In principle, a transformation is a ‘relationship’ between a thing and its image.

Elevation of Le Corbusier's 1925 design for a minimum house

mirror or reflection
scale
 scaled reflection

• combine motions
isometric and perspective
 interested in specific kinds of motions

These are RIGID motions - transformations that preserves distances

– have a bearing on symmetry. What does this mean?

If AB is the same as A'B' for

every pair of points on the

shape and its image, the

image
motion is rigid or isometric.

(From the Greek, iso means same, and metron, measurement or length)
 notation

Notation if ƒ is rigid motion and s is a geometric shape, 


then ƒ(s) denotes the image of s under the transformation. 

And ƒ-1(s) denotes the inverse image

ƒ-1 image

s ƒ(s)
ƒ-1(ƒ(s))
 classifying rigid motions

dimension

Translation 
 Reflection 

1-D
(along the line) (about the line)

2-D Translation Reflection

Rotation Glide-Reflection

+ Screw
3-D
transformation
a study in isometric operation: the Villa Rotunda

In a 1-D world – every geometrical object lies on a line.

• Translation (along the line)
• Reflection (about the line)
are the only motions that are rigid.
In the case of 2-D world where figures are defined in the Euclidean plane there are four motions that are rigid.
• Translation
• Reflection
• Rotation
• Glide-Reflection (less well known and combines translation and reflection)
In a 3-D world – every geometrical object is defined in Euclidean space, and all the above motions are rigid
together with
• Screw Transformation (which combines translation with a rotation)
copy (translation)

repeat

mirror
rotation
 translation

A translation of a point displaces or shifts that point by a certain

distance along the x-direction and a certain second distance along
the y-direction

A motif and its translated image

 patterns with translation

A pattern based on the motif,

which admits a translation
along a single direction

A pattern based on the

motif, which admits a
translation in two directions
 rotations

Rotations move geometric objects about a fixed point through a

given angle in a given direction

A motif and its rotated image

patterns with rotations

A pattern based on the motif

that admits rotation about a
fixed point
A fragment of a
two-dimensional
radial pattern that
admits rotations
 half-turns

A one dimensional pattern that admits half turns

mirror or reflection

A motif and its reflection.

 patterns admitting reflections

A pattern based on the motif, which admits reflection in a horizontal axis

A two-dimensional pattern that admits reflections in distinct axes
 glide reflections

• A reflection and translation

Human footprints
illustrating a glide reflection
A spatial pattern with glide-reflection
 symmetry

ƒ is a symmetry of a shape s if ƒ(s) = s

 symmetry of a square
R – rotation through 90º

R2, R3, R4 – are rotations through 180º, 270º and

360º (back to where we began) and

R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4 – are rotations through -90º,

-180º, –270º and –360º (back to where we began)
S - reflection in h(orizontal) axis

S2 (takes us back to where we began)

However,

SR = RS (reflection in r(ight) axis

SV = R2S (reflection in v(ertical) axis

SL = R3S (reflection in l(eft) axis and

S-1 = S SR-1 = SR3 SV-1 = SR2 SL-1 = SR

 Cayley table
identity

I R R2 R3 S RS R2S R3S
I I R R2 R3 S RS R2S R3S
R R R2 R3 I RS R2S R3S S
R2 R2 R3 I R R2S R3S S RS
R3 R3 I R R2 R3S S RS R2S
S S R3S R2S RS I R3 R2 R
RS RS S R3S R2S R3 I R R2
R2S R2S RS S R3S R2 R I R3
R3S R3S R2S RS S R R2 R3 I
 group

element I R R2 R3
what is a group?
I I R R2 R3
• closure
R R R2 R3 I
• identity
R2 R2 R3 I R
R3 R3 I R R2 • inverse

• associativity

R-1= R3, R-2= R2, R-3= R, R-4 = R4 = I

 symmetry of a fire shape form a group

• finite shapes have finite number of symmetries with the following

properties comprising of rotations and reflections

• A finite group of rotations must a single center of rotation

• A finite group of rotations is a cyclic group

• A finite group of rotations and reflections is a dihedral group

• Only two kinds of finite symmetry groups: 


cyclic (cn) and dihedral (dn)
 symmetry of a polygon form a group

n Example polygon Symmetry group

Scalene triangle c1 =<I>

1
Isosceles triangle d1=<S>
Parallelogram not rhombic c2 =<HO>
2
Rectangle d2=< HO S>
• cyclic (cn) and dihedral (dn)
Ratchet polygon with six c3 =<RO, 120°>
3
sides d3 =<RO, 120°, S>

Richet polygon with 2n sides cn =<RO, 360/n°>

n
Regular polygon with n sides dn =<RO, 360/n°, S>
finite groups in architecture
17th-C France

Upper floor plan of

the Hôtel Lambert
(1642-44) by
Louis Le Vau
 modern american university

First floor plan, Michael C. Carlos Hall, Emory University, Atlanta

Recap
 translation denoted by TP, P’

magnitude of P' (x+h, y+k)

shift h

k translated figure

P (x, y)

direction of shift

figure
 reflection denoted by Sm
P

figure
m: mirror or axis of reflection

reflected figure = Sm(figure)

P'
 rotations denoted by Rcenter,angle

rotated figure = Rc, theta (figure)

figure

θ
C: center of rotation
half-turn - rotation through 180°denoted by HP
B'

(rotated) figure' = HP (figure)

A'

P: point of rotation

figure
B
 glide-reflection denoted by Gc

B translation

figure

A
reflection

c: axis of glide

A''

(glide reflected) figure'' = Gc (figure)

B''
translations
 two translations
S (x+h+u, y+k+v)
TP, S = TQ,S TP, Q = TR,S TP, R

R (x+u, y+v)
Q(x+h, y+K)
T P,S

P (x, y)
T P,R = T Q,S

T P,Q = T R,S
 translation = two reflections in ||l axes

T = TA,A' = TB,B' = TC,C'

figure T(figure) = SmSl (figure)

C
C'

B A B' A'

l m
 two reflections do not commute

f Sl (f) Sm Sl (f)

Sl Sm (f) f Sm Sl (f)

l m
 three reflections in ||l axes

f Sn Sm Sl (f) = Sp (f)

f Sm Sl Sn (f) = Sq (f)

l m p n q
rotations
product of two half-turns = translation

HP (f)

Q HQ HP (f) = T (f)
P

f
 product of three half-turns = half-turn

HP (f)
Q
HQ HP (f) = T (f)
P

f
R

H[R} H[Q] H[P] (f) = H[S] (f)

product of two rotations
RC, φ+θ = RC, φ RC, θ (f)

RC, θ (f)

φ
θ
C

f = figure
reflections in two intersecting (90°) axes = half-turn
reflections in two intersecting axes = a rotation
RC, 2θ =
Sm Sl (f) = Sq Sp (f)
m
p
q

L'
Sl (f)
M'
θ
C L l

M
f = figure

Sp (f)
reflections in three intersecting axes = reflection
Sm Sl (f)

p m
n

q Sl (f)

C l

f = figure

(Sp = Sn Sm Sl) (f)

(Sq = Sm Sl Sn) (f)
product of two rotations
RA, 2θ (f)

B
φ
m
θ+φ
θ
A l C: constructed center
figure f

(RB, 2(θ+φ) = RB, 2φ RA, 2θ) (f)

 product of two rotations
RA, 2θ (f)

(T = RB, 2(180-θ) RA, 2θ) (f)

B
φ = 180- θ

m
θ
A l
figure f
center of rotation
reflections
 three reflections

possibilities - all axes parallel,

reflected figure
all axes concurrent, 

neither all parallel nor concurrent

figure l
m
 glide revisited
Q

P
M: midpoint of QQ' axis of glide c
midpoint of PP'

P'

a b p q
Q'
 more on glide

figure f Sa (f) Sb Sa (f)

axis of glide c
B A

glide-reflected
figure

(HB = Sc Sa) (f)

(Sc HA HB = Sb HB = HA Sa = Sc Sb Sa) (f)
a b
 figure f

Sa (f)

axis of glide c
A B

glide-reflected
figure

(HA Sa = Sc Sb Sa ) (f) (HA) (f) (Sa HA = Sc Sa Sb ) (f)

b a
 three reflections
Sa (f) b

a
p
Sp (f) Sb Sa (f)

P c

constructed axis of glide

(HPSp = Sc Sb Sa) (f)

Product Isometry

Reflection Reflection

Reflection • Reflection Rotation

Reflection
Reflection • Reflection • Reflection
Glide-reflection

> 3 Reflections < 2 Reflections

 symmetry groups in the plane

• are necessarily infinite and contain translations

• two kinds:

• groups generated by translations along one direction: 


frieze groups

• groups generated by translations along two directions:

wallpaper groups
 the Frieze groups

The name arises from friezes on buildings formed by repetitions of a

motif or figure

Actual friezes are always bounded at each end; but the analysis assumes
that they continue indefinitely at each end

The predominant characteristic of such patterns is that there is a smallest

translation that takes a motif to an identical motif along a single axis.

That is, the pattern is fixed by some smallest translation, say T.

 frieze groups

Let F denote the symmetry group for a frieze pattern. Then,

• T, T2, T3… are all elements of F. 


T fixes all lines parallel to the axis represented by it and T is a
symmetry of F

• If P is a point of symmetry for some frieze s and f is a symmetry

of s, then f(P) is a point of symmetry of s.

• If l is a line of symmetry for some frieze s and f is a symmetry of s,

then f(l) is a line of symmetry of s.
 implication

Therefore, we can study the symmetry group of a frieze pattern 


by examining the symmetries of the motif 

and combining these with the infinite cyclic group of translations 

to generate the elements of the symmetry group

A frieze is considered a single infinitely long geometrical figure

motif
F1 (p111)
F2 (p1a1)
F3 (pm11)
F4 (pma2)
F5 (p112)
F6 (p1m1)
F7 (pmm2)
 conventional naming convention
pxyz

x←m if the pattern admits vertical reflections

1 otherwise

y←m if the pattern admits horizontal reflections

a if the pattern admits glide reflections, but no horizontal reflection

1 otherwise

z←2 if the pattern admits half-turns

1 otherwise
 Conway’s naming convention

http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/images/upload_library/
4/vol1/architecture/Math/seven.html
 Hop

Sidle

Jump

Step

Spinning Hop

Spinning Sidle

Spinning Jump
in dance steps!

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=hxLXQDq4zAc
 flowchart

F6 Jump
F7 Spinning Jump

F3 Sidle
F5 Spinning sidle

F4 Spinning hop
F1 Hop

F2 Step
 Frieze groups

Group Generators Properties Example pattern

p111 <T> All have translational symmetry FFFFFFFF

p1m1 <T, Sc> Reflection in c Glide reflection DDDDDDD

pm11 <T, Sm> Reflection in m AAAAAAAA

p1a1 <G> Glide reflection MDWDMDWD

p112 <T, HM> Half-turn about M Half-turn about P SSSSSSSSSS

Half-turn about M, Reflection in c 


pmm2 <T, HM, Sc> Half-turn about P, Reflection in m, Reflection IIIIIIIII
in p, Glide –reflection

pma2 <G, HM> Glide reflection MWMWMWMW