Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2002 / ia / Paper 1 / 5B (Algebra and Geometry)

Take the scalene triangle vertex set $T=\{(0,0),(1,0),(0,2)\}$. Its edge lengths are $1,2,\sqrt{5}$. Each vertex has a different unordered pair of incident edge lengths. A Euclidean isometry preserving the set must preserve these pairs, and therefore fixes every vertex.

To justify rigidity of a scalene triangle fully, Euclidean distances from an arbitrary plane point to these three fixed points determine that point uniquely: subtracting its squared Euclidean distance to the origin from the other two squared Euclidean distances determines its two coordinates. Thus an isometry fixing the three vertices fixes every plane point. Only the identity preserves $T$.

For the general union of group translates, let $h\in G$. Left multiplication by $h$ permutes $G$, soTherefore $G\subseteq H$. This containment uses only the group action; the absence of symmetries of $T$ is not needed for the containment itself.

Use the same triangle and let $G$ consist of translations $x\mapsto x+m$ for $m\in {\mathbb{Z}}^2$. All its vertices have integer coordinates, and one vertex is the origin, soThe rotation through a quarter-turn $(x,y)\mapsto (-y,x)$ preserves this integer lattice, and hence belongs to $H$. It fixes the origin and is not the identity, whereas the only translation fixing the origin is the identity. It is therefore outside $G$, proving $G⊊H$. This is symmetry enlargement under group translates even though $T$ itself has trivial stabilizer subgroup.