Mathematics in the Modern World

Chapter 8

The Mathematics of Patterns

and Symmetries
 Chapter 8: THE MATHEMATICS OF PATTERNS
AND SYMMETRIES
Introduction
The Fibonacci sequence of numbers {1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, …} was
already discussed in Chapters 1 and 4. Each number in the sequence is the sum of two
consecutive numbers before it. There is an underlying pattern in the sequence since
each number is generated by repeated applicaton of an operation to get the succeeding
numbers. This is an example of a numerical pattern. What about logical patterns? Have
you tried taking an IQ test? Patterns may be numerical, logical, or geometric. This
lesson focuses on geometric patterns and in particular, isometries. The four types of
transformations, symmetry, and pattern, tessellation, and fractal geometry will be
discussed in this chapter.
It is ideal to start with the concept of motif. Any artistic creation starts with a
motif. According to Grunbaum and Shephard (1987), a motif is “any non-empty plane
set”. Any object drawn in a plane is a motif. When you repeat the drawing of the fish
in the plane not only once, but several times, you have a pattern. A pattern can be
described as “repetition of a ‘motif’ in the plane” (Grunbaum and Shephard, 1987). An
isometry is the rotation of a motif in a fixed angle about a fixed point. Each rotation of
a figure is an isometry. The image of the basic motif under the additional number of
rotations is a pattern (Renee Scott, 2008).

Learning Objectives

At the end of this chapter, the student is expected to:

 draw the image of a polygon after the reflection and specified rotation;
 use geometric concepts, especially isometries in describing and creating
designs; and
 Apply concepts in geometry for the enrichment of Filipino culture and arts.

Duration

Topic 1: Transformations and Isometries = 2 hours

Topic 2: Symmetry = 2 hours
Topic 3: Tessellations = 2 hours
Topic 4: Fractals = 2 hours

Lesson Proper

1.1 Transformations and Isometries

Transformation
The four types of transformations in the plane are rotation, translation,
reflection, and dilation. Rotation turns a figure about a certain point in a plane. The
figure below shows the rotation of a polygon. The basic motif here is the polygon.
Translation slides a figure in any particular direction or distance. Reflection mirrors a
figure over a line. Dilation shrinks or expands a figure by some scaling factor. Each
side of the polygon gets smaller or larger with the same scale.
 Translation Reflection

Rotation Dilation

The motif of the next figure is a bicycle. You can see the bicycle translated,
reflected, rotated, and dilated.

The basic motif on the next figure is an equilateral triangle. A triangle is

translated, changed places from left to right or from down up. The triangle motif also
undergoes rotation. Rotating the equilateral triangle by 60° clockwise, the side that
looks like the shorter diagonal of a parallelogram becomes one side of the rotated
triangle. Reflection can be observed along the vertical lines dividing the panels. Each
observed along the vertical lines dividing the panels. Each triangle is mirrored to the
other side of the vertical lines. There is no dilation here since all triangles are of the
same size.

Translation and reflection can be combined to yield an effect shown below. This
transformation is known as glide reflection. It is a combination of a translation and a
reflection.

Glide Reflection

Isometries
There are four transformations but only three of them are isometries. These
isometric transformations are reflection, rotation, and translation. The characteristics of
an isometry is that the original figure and the resulting figure after a transformation are
congruent. Dilation is a result of stretching or shrinking of an object. Hence, the mew
figure is no longer congruent to the original one. This makes dilation not an isometry.
Isometries are also formed from transformations consisting of any combinations
of the three operations. A combined translation and reflection is called glide reflection.
Another isometry is obtained after a reflection is followed by a rotation as shown in the
figure below. Here is how to do this transformation with a triangle. First, draw three
circles centered at the rotation point. Each circle passes through the vertices of the
triangle. Rotate each of the three vertices by any desired angle. Then connect the three
rotated vertices which forms the rotated triangle.
1.2 Symmetry
There are many objects in nature that are symmetrical. The letter M for instance
is symmetrical, whereas the letter G is not. Your face is symmetrical and, in fact, the
human body also symmetric. The picture of the cathedral below is symmetric. Why is
that so? Imagine a vertical line from the tip of the crucifix to the bottom of the church
door. The distance of each point on the right side of the façade to this imaginary vertical
line is exactly the same as the distance of each point on the left side. The left side and
right side wings of the butterfly (see the figure below) is also symmetrical. The leaves
and the eagle as well are symmetries.
 In a previous section, it was discussed that the combined isometric
transformation of translation followed by reflection yields a glide reflection. Recall the
concept of composition of functions in Algebra. The composition of a function f and a
function 𝑔 is denoted by (𝑓 ∘ 𝑔)(𝑥 ) = 𝑓(𝑔(𝑥 )). Here, the variable x is first applied to
the function f. This notion of composition in Algebra is closely related to the
transformation of the figure due to a glide reflection. First, the figure was translated,
and then reflected. This composition of isometries in the plane is called a symmetry.
Mathematically, it simply means mapping the pattern in the plane back onto itself.
There are three broad types of symmetries. These are the rosette patterns, the frieze
patterns, and the wallpaper patterns. The rosette pattern, has only one reflections and
rotation, and has no translations or glide reflections. The frieze pattern has reflections
and rotations. It has reflections and rotations. It also contains translations and glide
reflections but only along one line. The third type of symmetry is the wallpaper pattern
which has rotations, reflections, and glide reflections. This symmetry group also has
translations in two linearly independent directions.
Consider the figure below. One can perform seven rotations about its center
point and seven reflections along some lines passing through the center point. Each of
these symmetric transformations generates a new figure that overlaps with the original
figure. It takes seven rotations of an angle – 51.43° to get the figure back to its original
position. For the reflections, imagine a line between each pair of adjacent figures. These
are seven lines for this figure which determine the seven reflections. This group of
seven rotations and seven reflections is called the symmetric group D7. In general, any
symmetric group involving reflections and rotations are called dihedral group.

Rosette Goups
Consider another symmetry group consisting of 12 rotations. Examine the figure
below. Its center point is located on the center circle. Unlike the case above, any
reflection cannot be done on this object because it will not generate a figure that
overlaps with the original figure. Hence, the figure below has a symmetry of 12
rotations and which is called R12 illustrate the larger class of rosette group of symmetry
Frieze Groups
Now consider a symmetry without a center point, and translate the figure to the
right. The figure below has a motif consisting of four pairs of rectangles, each pair of
the same size. This motif completes the figure by moving it to the right or left at a fixed
distance. This translation symmetry belongs to the frieze group of symmetries and is
called a frieze pattern. The distance of translation is minimum. With this restriction
there are only seven frieze groups. The other frieze groups have a combination of
translation with rotation and translation with reflection (Eck, n.d.).

The following are Conway’s seven frieze group patterns (“Frieze Patterns”,
2013)
1. Hop. This pattern only involves translation.

2. Step. The second frieze pattern is a combination of translation and reflection

shown by the following figure. Conway also called it glide reflection
symmetry.

3. Sidle. The third consists of translation and vertical reflection symmetries.

4. Spinning Hop. The fourth contains translation and rotation (by a half-turn
or rotation at 180° angle) symmetries.

5. Spinning Sidle. The fifth contains translation, glide reflection and rotation
(by a half-turn or rotation at 180° angle) symmetries.
 6. Jump. The sixth contains translations and horizontal reflection symmetries.

7. Spinning Jump. Finally, the seventh frieze pattern contains all symmetries
(translation, horizontal and vertical reflection, and rotation).

Wallpaper Groups
If translation symmetry is added in a second, independent direction, one gets
wallpaper groups. It turns out that there are only 17 different wallpaper groups (again,
considering only discrete groups). Below are some examples. These were made using
the groups p6m, pgg, and p4m, respectively from the left to right. As always, you have
to imagine the patterns extended infinitely in all directions.

If a wallpaper group has any rotational symmetry, then the smallest rotational
symmetry must be one of 180°, 120°, 90°, or 60° angle. A wallpaper group can also
have reflection symmetries and glide reflection symmetries. An “m” in the group name
indicates a reflection symmetry, while “g” indicates glide reflection symmetry.

8.3 Tessellations
A tessellation is a pattern covering a plane by fitting together replicas of the
same basic shape. The word tessellation comes from Latin word tessera, which means
a square tablet or a die used in gambling.

Honeycomb Snake Skin

 Tessellations have been created by nature and man either by
accident or design. Examples range from simple hexagonal pattern
of the bees’ honeycomb, snake skin, or a tiled floor to intricate
decorations used by the Moors in 13th century Spain or the elaborate
mathematical, but artistic, mosaics created by Maurits Cornelis
Escher in the 20th century. Although Sumerians used mosaics as
early as 4000 B.C., Escher came to be known as the “Father of
Tessellations”. Some of Escher’s famous tessellations are
Horsemen, Lizard, and Snakes. Maurits Escher

Horsemen Lizard Snakes

In geometry terminology, a tessellation is a pattern resulting from the
arrangement of regular polygons to cover a plane without any gap or overlap. The
patterns are continuously repeated (Scott, 2008).

Regular Tessellation
A regular tessellation is a tessellation made up of congruent regular polygons.
It has the following properties:
1. The tessellation must tile a floor (that goes on forever) with no overlaps or gaps.
2. The tiles must be the same regular polygons.
3. All vertices must look the same.

Vertex

The three regular tessellations are shown below:

How to name a tessellation?
Step 1. Find the regular polygon with the least number of sides.
Step 2. Find the longest consecutive run of this polygon, that is, two or more
repetitions of this polygon around the vertex.
Step 3. Indicate the number of sides of this regular polygon.
Step 4. Proceeding in a clockwise order, indicate the number of sides of each
polygon as you see them in the arrangement.

Examples:

Can other regular polygons tessellate?

Pentagon?

Pentagon?
 Heptagon?

Octagon?

Semi-Regular Tessellations
Semi-regular tessellations (or Archimedean tessellations) are regular
tessellations of two or more different polygons around a vertex and each vertex has the
same arrangement of polygons.

Vertex

Trihexagonal Tiling
𝟑∙𝟔∙𝟑 ∙𝟔

Vertex

Vertex
Truncated Square Tiling
𝟒∙𝟖∙𝟖
 Vertex
Snub Square Tiling
𝟑∙𝟑∙𝟒∙𝟑∙𝟒

Demi-Regular Tessellations
A demi-regular tessellation is an edge-to-edge tessellation, but the order or
arrangement of polygons at each vertex is not the same.

p4m, *442 p4g, 4*2 pgg, 2× p6m, *632

(3.12.12; 3.4.3.12)
(33.42; 32.4.3.4)1 (33.42; 32.4.3.4)2 (36; 32.62)

p6m, *632 p6m, *632 p6m, *632 p6m, *632

(36; 32.4.3.4) (3.4.6.4; 32.4.3.4) (3.4.6.4; 33.42) (3.4.6.4; 3.42.6)

8.4 Fractals
There are figures that are very interesting, mathematically speaking. These figures
can be found in nature. Take for instance the Barnsley Fern below.

The fern is created by the computer. See how each branch of the leaf is
intricately designed. Each branch becomes smaller and smaller but with a scaling factor.
Each point of the fern has an exact location in the xy plane determined by a function.
The function which iterates a figure to make it smaller and smaller or bigger and bigger
using a scaling factor is called fractals.

What are fractals?

Fractals are mathematical constructs characterized by self-similarity. This

means that as one examines finer and finer details of the object, the magnified area is
seen to be similar to the original but is not identical to it. Two objects are self-similar
if they can be turned into the same shape by either stretching or shrinking (and
sometimes rotating). The family of ducks below is similar but not self-similar because
the ducklings only look the same without regard to measurement.

On the other hand, the school of fish below is self-similar because a uniform
stretching and shrinking made them all the same. Here, the uniform stretching and
shrinking is done by a scaling factor. Self-similar objects do not have beginning or
ending, and they form an endless sequence.

A fractal is “a geometric pattern that is repeated

at ever smaller scales to produce irregular shapes and
surfaces that cannot be represented by classical
geometry”. It comes from the Latin adjective “fractus”
or verb “frangere” which means to break. Fractal
geometry is a discipline named and popularized by the
mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot (1924-2010). This
category of geometry describes a set of curves many of
which were rarely seen before the advent of computers.
Mandelbrot wrote The Fractal Geometry of
nature (1997) and he started: “Clouds are not spheres,
and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a
straight line.” Some popular fractals below are Sierpinski Benoit Mandelbrot
triangle, Pascal’s Triangle, Koch snowflakes, fractal trees,
and Barnsley ferns.

In summary, a fractal is a geometric shape which:

1. is self-similar, and
2. has fractional (fractal) dimension.
 Fractals are about four things: fractions, functions, graphs, and imaginary
numbers. Fractal geometry is a useful tool in quantifying the structure of a wide range
of objects in nature, from pure mathematics, through physics and chemistry, to biology
and the medical sciences like on pathology, neuropsychiatry, and cardiology. Some
fractals that can be found in nature are the following:

Fractals offer artists a way to create imaginary landscapes with the help of
technological tools. Many movie backgrounds are created using fractal graphics.

Iteration
Iteration means repeating a process over and over again. In Mathematics,
iteration means repeating a function over and over. The Iteration Function System (IFS)
is a method for generating fractals involving a large number of calculations of a simple
formula. Recursion is a special kind of iteration. With recursion, there is given starting
information and a rule for how to use it to get new information. Then the rule is repeated
using the new information as though it were the starting information. What comes out
of the rule goes back into the rule for the next iteration. A classic example of a recursion
is the Fibonacci sequence.
The scaling factor is a fraction, with a value of less than 0.1, used to specify
the distance from one plotted point to the next plotted point relative to the distance from
the original plotted point to one of the fixed points. The scaling factor ultimately
governs how diffused or focused the resulting fractal pattern will be. The fractal picture
below illustrates the notion of iterating a geometric construction.
Example 1: The Cantor Set
The cantor set is a fractal that can be formed using IFS. The Cantor set is
formed by the following algorithm.
Step 1: Begin with the set [0,1].
Step 2: Divide the existing segments into thirds.
Step 3: Remove the middle third.
Step 4: Go to Step 2.
Dimensions
In Euclidean geometry, a one-dimensional line segment has only one length, a
two-dimensional triangle covers an area in a plane, and a three-dimensional pyramid
occupies a volume in space. A line segment is one-dimensional, a triangle or square is
two-dimensional, and a pyramid or cube is three-dimensional. Intuitively, dimension
has something to with the number of distance measurements needed to specify the size
of an object in the Euclidean world.
For fractal objects such as, the Cantor set, the Sierpinski triangle, among others,
the dimension cannot be determined by simply counting the number of distance
measurements. What is the dimension of a fractal object that is fractured and scattered
in space? Many resort to a definition of dimension based on the concept of capacity,
that is, how much space on object actually takes up in reality. First, the capacity
definition is applied to a line, triangle, and cube to recover the Euclidean dimensions 1,
2, and 3, respectively. It is then found that the fractal dimension d is not necessarily a
whole integer but can be take on any value between the integers.
The formula for the dimension of a fractal is:
log 𝑛
𝑑=
1
log 𝑟
where:
r = ratio of the length of the new object to the length of the original object
n = the number of the new objects

Example 2: Sierpinski Triangle or Sierpinski Gasket

One classic example of self-similarity is Sierpinski triangle or Sierpinski gasket.
Let an equilateral triangle be decomposed into three congruent figures, each of which
is exactly half the size of the original triangle. If any of the three smaller pieces is
magnified by a factor of two, an exact replica of the original triangle is obtained. That
is, the original triangle consists of three self-similar copies of itslelf, each with the
magnification factor of two.
The Sierpinski triangle can be constructed as follows:
Step 1: Begin with an equilateral triangle (although the actual shape does not
really matter).
Step 2: Find the midpoint of each side.
Step 3: Connect the midpoints by a straight line.
Step 4: Observe that you created three or more triangles, one on top and two at
the bottom. The middle triangle is hollow.
Step 5: Repeat the process with all three triangles.
First Iteration
Observe the two triangles above. The first is the original equilateral triangle with
sides measuring one unit each. The recursive procedure is to replace the triangle with
three smaller triangle shares a vertex with the large triangle. Repeat the procedure.
Note that in the first iteration, the triangle has 3 “miniature” triangles. Each side
is half the length of a side of the original triangle. Each “miniature” triangle looks
exactly like the original triangle when magnified by a scaling factor or magnification.

Take the result and repeat (iterate).

Second Iteration Third Iteration

Notice that the lower left portion of the triangle is exactly the same as the entire
triangle when magnified by a factor of two. It is self-similar.

Fourth Iteration Fifth Iteration

 Thus, the Sierpinski triangle or gasket begins as an equilateral triangle, with
each side as one unit but as the recursive procedure (replacing the triangle with three
smaller congruent equilateral triangles such that each smaller triangle shares a vertex
with the large triangle) continues without end, the area of the triangle converges to zero.
The fifth iteration in the figure above shows a very large number of iterations. Could
you believe that the Sierpinski triangle does not have an area?
References/Additional Resources/Readings

Artmann, B. (2018). Euclidean Geometry. In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eucledian-geometry

Aufmann, R. et al. (2018). Mathematical Excursions 4th Edition.

www.cenage.com/students/MINDTAP

Baltazar, E. C. et al. (2013). Mathematics in the Modern World. Quezon City: C&E
Publishing, Inc.

Bayer, D. (2003). The Seventeen Wallpaper Patterns. Retrieved from

http://www.math.columbia.edu/~buyer/symmetry/wallpaper

Connors, M. A. (2018). Exploring Fractals: From Cantor dust to the Fractal Skewed
Web. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Massachusetts
Amhest. Retrieved from http://www.math.umass.edu/~mconnors/fractal.html

Coolmath.com. (2018). What are tessellations? Retrieved from

http://www.coolmath.com/lesson-tesellations-1

Grunbaum, B. &Shephard, G.C. (1987). Tilings and Patterns. New York, NY: W. H.
Freeman and Company.

Mathematical Association of America. (n. d.). Frieze Patterns. Retrieved from

https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/images/upload_library/4/vol1/architect
ure/Math/seven.html

MathIsFun. (2017). Tessellation. Retrieved March 9, 2018, from

https://www.mathisfun.com/geometry/tessellation.html

Nocon, R.C. & Nocon, E.G. (2018). Essential Mathematics for the Modern World. Quezon
City: C&E Publishing, Inc.

Quintos, R.T. et al. (2018). Mathematics in the Modern World. St. Andrew Publishing
House

Sirug, W. (2017). On Tessellation. [Powerpoint Presentation]. CEU Graduate School.

 Activity Sheet 33

Name: __________________________________________ Date: ________________

Year & Section: ___________________________________ Score: _______________

Direction: Work on the following activity and answer the following questions below.
1. Draw the image of the given polygon under a reflection in a mirror line AB.

2. Draw the image of the given quadrilateral under the specified rotation:
b.1 Counter clockwise at 90° arount point O.
b.2 Clockwise at 90° arount point O.
3. Create a tiling design by translating the polygon below.

4. Combine translation and reflection to create a glide reflection of the figure

below.
 Activity Sheet 34

Name: __________________________________________ Date: ________________

Year & Section: ___________________________________ Score: _______________

Direction: Apply the concept of symmetry.

1. The human face is an imperfect symmetry. How would you look if half of your
face is the reflection of the other? Paste it in ta short bond paper.
2. Mark all symmetries for each frieze group pattern. That is, identify and mark all
translations, rotations, reflections and glide-reflections if present.

a.

b.

c.

3. For each of the patterns (a) through (c) shown below, determine the wallpaper
symmetry group exhibited by the pattern. Show in detail how you determined
the group.

a b c
 Activity Sheet 35

Name: __________________________________________ Date: ________________

Year & Section: ___________________________________ Score: _______________

Direction: Apply the concept of tessellations.

1. Name the following semi-regular tessellations.

2. Name the following demi-regular tessellations.

 Activity Sheet 36

Name: __________________________________________ Date: ________________

Year & Section: ___________________________________ Score: _______________

Direction: Apply the concept of fractals.

1. Create a fractal by starting with a line segment, dividing the segment into four
equal lengths, and replacing both the second and the third sections by two
segments whose lengths are one-fourth the length of the original segment.
Repeat this process to four iterations. Find the dimension of this fractal.

2. Create a fractal by starting with a square, dividing each line segment into three
equal lengths, and replacing the middle third of each side with three line
segments whose lengths are one-third the length of the original segment. This
is the first iteration. Repeat this process and draw the next iteration of this
fractal. Find the dimension of this fractal.

3. Draw the first to fourth iterations of the Sierpinski triangle and complete the
table below by finding:
a. The number of new triangles drawn at each stage.
b. The length of each side of the triangle drawn at indicated iteration.
c. The area of each new triangle.
d. The total area of all triangles.
Area of
Number of Length of Area of All
Iteration Each
Triangles Sides Triangles
Triangles
First

Second

Third

Fourth
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