Finite subgroups of the plane orthogonal group

ID: finite-subgroups-of-the-plane-orthogonal-group

A finite subgroup of is cyclic or dihedral. Its orientation-preserving part consists of rotations and is cyclic: choose the smallest positive rotation angle, divide any other angle by it with remainder, and use minimality to force zero remainder. The smallest angle is therefore for some . A trivial rotational subgroup is included by .
If there is no orientation-reversing element, this is the whole group. Otherwise choose a reflection . Every orientation-reversing element is , where generates the rotations; these form the second coset. Since , the group is a dihedral group of order . Its involutions are all reflections and, when is even, the extra half-turn . Consequently it has order-two cyclic subgroups for odd , and for even .

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