Reflection length of a Euclidean orthogonal map ($\ell (Q)=\mathrm{rank}(I-Q)$)

A product of $m$ reflections has $\mathrm{rank}(I-Q)\le m$, by the rank inequality applied successively to $I-AB=(I-A)+A(I-B)$. Conversely an orthogonal transformation fixes the orthogonal complement of its moved space; successive Householder reflections fix one new basis direction at each step in that moved space. At most its dimension $\mathrm{rank}(I-Q)$ are required. Thus central inversion in three dimensions needs exactly three reflections.