The orientation-preserving symmetries of a cube are the signed permutation matrices with determinant one. There are of them. Their group action on the four body diagonals identifies this group with the symmetric group . Indeed choose diagonal directions , whose sum is zero and whose only linear relation has all coefficients equal. A rotation fixing every diagonal sends each direction to itself or its negative; the relation forces all four signs equal. All negative would give , which has determinant , so the kernel of a group homomorphism is trivial. Both groups have order 24, giving the identification. Its face permutations have cycle types , , , and , occurring times respectively.

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