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4: Symmetries

  • Page ID
    34365
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    Symmetry is an important concept in physics and mathematics (and art!). In this chapter, we show how the mathematics of symmetry can be used to simplify the analysis of the normal modes of symmetrical systems.

    Preview

    In this chapter, we introduce the formal concept of symmetry or invariance.

    1. We will work out some examples of the use of symmetry arguments to simplify the analysis of oscillating systems.


    This page titled 4: Symmetries is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Howard Georgi via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.