O.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Is the symmetry group D[3] Abelian?

11Equation Section (Next)I. MY PROOF

An Abelian group: we find definition on 09 M, p. 32, which asserts:

AB  BA  group is Abelian 212\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

Look at the Cayley table: see 09 M, p. 35, Pr 02: this’ll give you the answer. 09/09/10 – okay, we’ve got it
done:
  1
e R120 R240 FVB FVB2 FVB3

1
e e R120 R240 FVB FVB2 FVB3
R120 R120 R240 e FVB2 FVB3 FVB1
R240 R240 e R120 FVB3 1
FVB FVB2
FVB1 1
FVB FVB3 FVB2 e R240 R120
FVB2 FVB2 1
FVB FVB3 R120 e R240
FVB3 FVB3 FVB2 FVB1 R240 R120 e
313\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

We notice:
1
R120 FVB  FVB2  FVB3  FVB1 R120 414\* MERGEFORMAT [.]
1
FVB FVB2  R240  R120  FVB2 FVB
1
515\* MERGEFORMAT [.]
Not Abelian.

In general: it seems:

Rn120 FVBm  FVB( m n mod 3)1 616\* MERGEFORMAT [.]

( m  n mod 3) 1
F Rn120  F
m
VB VB 717\* MERGEFORMAT [.]
…just for the fun of it… I just wanted to see what the difference is between right and left multiplication.

82Equation Section (Next)II. BACKGROUND READING

93Equation Section (Next)III. QUESTIONS

104Equation Section (Next)IV. THE ANSWER