In geometry, Euclidean space encompasses the two-dimensional Euclidean plane, the three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, and similar spaces of higher dimension. It is named after the Ancient Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria. The term "Euclidean" distinguishes these spaces from other types of spaces considered in modern geometry. Euclidean spaces also generalize to higher dimensions.
In group theory, the symmetry group of a geometric object is the group of all transformations under which the object is invariant, endowed with the group operation of composition. Such a transformation is an invertible mapping of the ambient space which takes the object to itself, and which preserves all the relevant structure of the object. A frequent notation for the symmetry group of an object X is G = Sym(X).
In mathematics, hyperbolic geometry is a non-Euclidean geometry. The parallel postulate of Euclidean geometry is replaced with:
In mathematics, a reflection 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 or plane of reflection. The image of a figure by a reflection is its mirror image 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 would look like q. Its image by reflection in a horizontal axis would look like b. A reflection is an involution: when applied twice in succession, every point returns to its original location, and every geometrical object is restored to its original state.
In mathematics, a hyperbolic space is a homogeneous space that has a constant negative curvature, where in this case the curvature is the sectional curvature. It is hyperbolic geometry in more than 2 dimensions, and is distinguished from Euclidean spaces with zero curvature that define the Euclidean geometry, and elliptic geometry that have a constant positive curvature.
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. 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. A clockwise rotation is a negative magnitude so a counterclockwise turn has a positive magnitude.
In mathematics, a discrete subgroup of a topological group G is a subgroup H such that there is an open cover of G in which every open subset contains exactly one element of H; in other words, the subspace topology of H in G is the discrete topology. For example, the integers, Z, form a discrete subgroup of the reals, R, but the rational numbers, Q, do not. A discrete group is a topological group G equipped with the discrete topology.
In mathematics, the Euclidean group E(n), also known as ISO(n) or similar, is the symmetry group of n-dimensional Euclidean space. Its elements are the isometries associated with the Euclidean distance, and are called Euclidean isometries, Euclidean transformations or rigid transformations.
In geometry, a Euclidean plane isometry is an isometry of the Euclidean plane, or more informally, a way of transforming the plane that preserves geometrical properties such as length. There are four types: translations, rotations, reflections, and glide reflections.
A spherically symmetric spacetime is a spacetime whose isometry group contains a subgroup which is isomorphic to the rotation group SO(3) and the orbits of this group are 2-spheres. The isometries are then interpreted as rotations and a spherically symmetric spacetime is often described as one whose metric is "invariant under rotations". The spacetime metric induces a metric on each orbit 2-sphere.
In a group, the conjugate by g of h is ghg−1.
In mathematics, constant curvature is a concept from differential geometry. Here, curvature refers to the sectional curvature of a space and is a single number determining its local geometry. The sectional curvature is said to be constant if it has the same value at every point and for every two-dimensional tangent plane at that point. For example, a sphere is a surface of constant positive curvature.
In geometry, the small cubicuboctahedron is a uniform star polyhedron, indexed as U13. It has 20 faces (8 triangles, 6 squares, and 6 octagons), 48 edges, and 24 vertices. Its vertex figure is a crossed quadrilateral.
In mathematics, a non-Euclidean crystallographic group, NEC group or N.E.C. group is a discrete group of isometries of the hyperbolic plane. These symmetry groups correspond to the wallpaper groups in euclidean geometry. A NEC group which contains only orientation-preserving elements is called a Fuchsian group, and any non-Fuchsian NEC group has an index 2 Fuchsian subgroup of orientation-preserving elements.
In geometry, the Beckman–Quarles theorem, named after F. S. Beckman and D. A. Quarles, Jr., states that if a transformation of the Euclidean plane or a higher-dimensional Euclidean space preserves unit distances, then it preserves all distances. Equivalently, every automorphism of the unit distance graph of the plane must be an isometry of the plane.
Beckman and Quarles published this result in 1953; it was later rediscovered by other authors.
In geometry, a point reflection or inversion in a point is a type of isometry of Euclidean space. 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.
In geometry, Hjelmslev's theorem, named after Johannes Hjelmslev, is the statement that if points P, Q, R... on a line are isometrically mapped to points P´, Q´, R´... of another line in the same plane, then the midpoints of the segments PP`, QQ´, RR´... also lie on a line.
In geometry, a motion is an isometry of a metric space. For instance, a plane equipped with the Euclidean distance metric is a metric space in which a mapping associating congruent figures is a motion. More generally, the term motion is a synonym for surjective isometry in metric geometry, including elliptic geometry and hyperbolic geometry. In the latter case, hyperbolic motions provide an approach to the subject for beginners.
