Symmetries
摘要
Groups provide the mathematical formalism for understanding invertible symmetries. In this chapter we approach this idea through a series of steps of abstraction: we begin by considering concrete examples of 2 and 3 dimensional symmetries of polygons, we build up to matrix groups, and then finally to the abstract formalism of a group. We also consider what it means for two groups to be “the same” and when and how one group can “sit inside” another.