Two-involution characterization of a dihedral group

ID: two-involution-characterization-of-a-dihedral-group

A group generated by two involutions is dihedral in the extended convention allowing and the infinite dihedral group. If , put , ; then . Conversely, from the inversion relation, and square to the identity and generate. If , the group is and the same nonidentity element is used twice. Exact order two, rather than merely a square equal to the identity, requires this exceptional case. This convention extends the usual finite dihedral group definition.

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