If two mirrors are placed facing each other and parallel to each other, infinite images are formed along the straight line. In diffuse reflection, light is scattered in multiple directions because of tiny irregularities in the surface of the medium. Waves can also strike non-shiny surfaces, which produce diffuse reflections. Specular reflection from curved surfaces may be magnified or demagnified, depending on whether the surface is spherical or parabolic. Specular reflection from a flat surface forms mirror mages, which appear to be reversed from left to right. Snowflakes in winter have all three lines of symmetry.Įxample 1: How many lines of symmetry does the given figure have?Įxample 2: Can you find any examples of letters from the alphabet that have a horizontal line of symmetry?Īnswer: A lot of letters, like O, D, H, have horizontal lines of symmetry.Įxample 3: Is the given shape symmetric or asymmetric?Īnswer: The given shape is symmetric with a vertical line of symmetry.The law of reflection works for specular surfaces, which means surfaces which are shiny or mirror-like.Hives of honeybees are made of hexagonal shape, which is symmetric in nature.The feathers of a peacock and the wings of butterflies and dragonflies have identical left and right sides.Trees reflected in crystal clear water and towering mountains reflected in a lake.Inspired by this, humans learned to build their architecture with symmetric aspects that made buildings balanced and proportionate in their foundation, like the pyramids of Egypt! We can observe symmetry around us in many forms: A lot of flowers and most of the animals are symmetric in nature. Symmetry was taught to humans by nature itself. Since all sides of a scalene triangle are different, it cannot be divided into two identical mirror halves.
Some other examples of shapes that have multiple lines of symmetry are circles and rectangles.Īn example of a shape that does not have any line of symmetry is a scalene triangle. So we can say that an object can have multiple lines of symmetry. In fact, a square possesses all three lines of symmetry. For example, the square below shows a diagonal line of symmetry. When a diagonal/skew line divides an object into two identical halves, it is called a diagonal line of symmetry. For example, the image below shows a horizontal line of symmetry. That means the horizontal line of symmetry goes from left to right (or vice versa) in an object.
When a horizontal line divides an object into two identical halves, it is called a horizontal line of symmetry. For example, the star below shows a vertical line of symmetry. That means that the vertical line goes from top to bottom (or vice versa) in an object and divides it into its mirror halves. Let’s take a look at each of these lines.Ī vertical line that divides an object into two identical halves is called a vertical line of symmetry. In mathematics, there are three types of lines of symmetry. It can also be defined as the line along which we can fold the object and its left and right half would completely overlap with each other. Let’s look at this flower again, the dotted line along which we divided it into two identical halves is called the line of symmetry or the axis of symmetry. That means that an asymmetric object cannot be divided into identical halves.Īn example of asymmetry would be the given image. Note that the two parts are identical and mirror images of each other.Īn object that is not symmetric is said to be asymmetric. If we were to draw an imaginary line in the middle of it, we could divide it into two equal parts like this: For example, look at the given picture of a flower: In mathematics, especially in geometry and its applications, an object is said to have symmetry if it can be divided into two identical halves.