Prove that any dihedral group can be generated by symmetry and reflections.

257 Views Asked by At

One definition of a dihedral group $D_n$ is

$$\langle s,r : s^2=r^2=(sr)^n=1 \rangle.$$

where $s$ is a symmetry along an axis and $r$ is a rotation of $2\pi/n$. I was just thinking this is how dihedral groups are defined but is it possible to show that the dihedral groups can be generated by two generators of order 2?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On

Rotation by 2*pi/n generates all rotations, so it is left to prove that we can obtain also all symmetries. Check what is $rsr^{-1},r^{2}sr^{-2},r^{3}sr^{-3}$,... up to $r^{n-1}sr^{-(n-1)}$