Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 1 3G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be an isometry, and set . Then , and preservation of distances gives . The polarization identity yieldsFor a standard orthonormal basis , put . These three vectors are an orthonormal basis. Since , we have for an orthogonal matrix . Thusan affine map.
For a finite isometry group , take . An affine map preserves an affine average, so for any ,The orbit barycentre is a common fixed point. This proves the fixed point of a finite Euclidean isometry group result.