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Some thoughts on symmetry

Human beings seem to find buildings with a line of symmetry attractive, perhaps because they themselves have an approximate vertical line of symmetry.
Crystals, flowers and magnified snowflakes all appeal to us too, and much of this appeal lies in their symmetry.
(Beautiful but speedily downloading graphics here? ... if only!)

So, what do we mean by symmetry? Have a look at these two drawings.

..... and .....

Both these two shapes can be moved in such a way that we can't tell that any alteration has been made.
An alteration which behaves like this is called a symmetry transformation.

How many symmetry transformations can you find for each of them?


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