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A wallpaper group (or plane crystallographic group) is a mathematical concept to classify repetitive designs on two-dimensional surfaces, such as walls, based on the symmetries in the pattern. Such patterns occur frequently in architecture and decorative art. The mathematical study of such patterns reveals that exactly 17 different types of patterns can occur.

Wallpaper groups are related to the simpler frieze groups, and to the more complex three-dimensional crystallographic groups (also called space groups).

Contents [hide] 1 Informal introduction 1.1 Symmetries of patterns 2 Formal definition and discussion 2.1 Isometries of the Euclidean plane 2.2 The independent translations condition 2.3 The discreteness condition 2.4 Notations for wallpaper groups 2.4.1 Crystallographic notation 2.4.2 Conway notation 2.5 Why there are exactly seventeen groups 3 Guide to recognising wallpaper groups 4 Key to diagrams 5 Lattice types 6 Group p1 7 Group p2 8 Group pm 9 Group pg 10 Group cm 11 Group pmm 12 Group pmg 13 Group pgg 14 Group cmm 15 Group p4 16 Group p4m 17 Group p4g 18 Group p3 19 Group p3m1 20 Group p31m 21 Group p6 22 Group p6m 23 Symmetry groups 24 Dependence of wallpaper groups on transformations 25 Web demo and software 26 See also 27 External links 28 References

 

Informal introduction

It should be noted that wallpaper groups categorize patterns by their symmetries. Patterns that are only different on a close look may fall in different categories, while patterns which are very different in style, color, scale, etc., or are oriented differently (such as rotated by 45° or 90°) may fall in the same category.

Consider the following examples.

 

It turns out that examples A and B have the same wallpaper group; it is called p4m. Example C has a different wallpaper group, called p4g. The fact that A and B have the same wallpaper group means that it is impossible to tell them apart on the basis of symmetry alone, whereas C can be so distinguished.

A complete list of all seventeen possible wallpaper groups can be found below under the complete list of wallpaper groups.

 

Symmetries of patterns

A symmetry of a pattern is, loosely speaking, a way of transforming the pattern so that the resulting pattern looks exactly the same as the one we started with. In principle the categorization applies to patterns which continue indefinitely in all directions, so we need to imagine that they do. Also there are in practice imperfections, but they are often small enough to understand which symmetries were intended, so we can base the categorization on those.

Sometimes two categorizations are meaningful, one based on shapes alone and one also including colors. When colors are ignored there may be more symmetry. In black and white there are also 17 wallpaper groups, because e.g. a colored tiling is equivalent with one in black and white with the colors coded radially in a circularly symmetric "bar code" in the center of mass of each tile.

The types of transformations that are relevant here are called Euclidean plane isometries. For example:

• If we shift example B one 'unit' to the right, so that each square covers the square that was originally adjacent to it, then the resulting pattern is exactly the same as the pattern we started with. This type of symmetry called a translation. Examples A and C are similar, except that the smallest possible shifts are in diagonal directions.
• If we rotate example B clockwise by 90°, around the centre of one of the squares, again we obtain exactly the same pattern. This is simply called a rotation. Examples A and C also have 90° rotations, although it requires a little more ingenuity to find the correct centre of rotation for C.
• We can also flip example B across a horizontal axis that runs across the middle of the image. This is called a reflection. Example B also has reflections across a vertical axis, and across two diagonal axes. The same can be said for A.

However, example C is different. It only has reflections in horizontal and vertical directions, not across diagonal axes. If we flip across a diagonal line, we do not get the same pattern back; what we do get is the original pattern shifted across by a certain distance. This is part of the reason that A and B have a different wallpaper group to C.

Note that having two (or e.g. five) equal images alongside each other is not translational symmetry: for that there have to be infinitely many copies.

 

Formal definition and discussion

A wallpaper group or plane crystallographic group is a type of topologically discrete group of isometries of the Euclidean plane which contains two linearly independent translations.

Two such isometry groups are of the same type (of the same wallpaper group) if they are the same up to an affine transformation of the plane. Thus e.g. a translation of the plane (hence a translation of the mirrors and centers of rotation) does not affect the wallpaper group. The same applies for a change of angle between translation vectors, provided that it does not add or remove any symmetry (this is only the case if there are no mirrors and no glide reflections, and rotational symmetry is at most of order 2).

Unlike in the three-dimensional case, we can equivalently restrict the affine transformations to those which preserve orientation.

It follows from the Bieberbach theorem that all wallpaper groups are different even as abstract groups (as opposed to e.g. Frieze groups, of which two are isomorphic with Z).

2D patterns with double translational symmetry can be categorized according to their symmetry group type.

 

Isometries of the Euclidean plane

Isometries of the Euclidean plane fall into four categories (see the article Euclidean plane isometry for more information).

• Translations, denoted by T_v, where v is a vector in R². This has the effect of shifting the plane applying displacement vector v.
• Rotations, denoted by R_c,θ, where c is a point in the plane (the centre of rotation), and θ is the angle of rotation.
• Reflections, or mirror isometries, denoted by F_L, where L is a line in R². (F is for "flip"). This has the effect of reflecting the plane in the line L, called the reflection axis or the associated mirror.
• Glide reflections, denoted by G_L,d, where L is a line in R² and d is a distance. This is a combination of a reflection in the line L and a translation along L by a distance d.

 

The independent translations condition

The condition on linearly independent translations means that there exist linearly independent vectors v and w (in R²) such that the group contains both T_v and T_w.

The purpose of this condition is to distinguish wallpaper groups from frieze groups, which have only a single linearly independent translation, and from two-dimensional discrete point groups, which have no translations at all. In other words, wallpaper groups represent patterns that repeat themselves in two distinct directions, in contrast to frieze groups which only repeat along a single axis.

(It is possible to generalise this situation. We could for example study discrete groups of isometries of Rⁿ with m linearly independent translations, where m is any integer in the range 0 ≤ m ≤ n.)

 

The discreteness condition

The discreteness condition means that there is some positive real number ε, such that for every translation T_v in the group, the vector v has length at least ε (except of course in the case that v is the zero vector).

The purpose of this condition is to ensure that the group has a compact fundamental domain, or in other words, a "cell" of nonzero, finite area, which is repeated through the plane. Without this condition, we might have for example a group containing the translation T_x for every rational number x, which would not correspond to any reasonable wallpaper pattern.

One important and nontrivial consequence of the discreteness condition in combination with the independent translations condition is that the group can only contain rotations of order 2, 3, 4, or 6; that is, every rotation in the group must be a rotation by 180°, 120°, 90°, or 60°. This fact is known as the crystallographic restriction theorem, and can be generalised to higher-dimensional cases.

 

Notations for wallpaper groups

 

Crystallographic notation

Crystallography has 230 space groups to distinguish, far more than the 17 wallpaper groups, but many of the symmetries in the groups are the same. Thus we can use a similar notation for both kinds of groups, that of Carl Hermann and Charles-Victor Mauguin. An example of a full wallpaper name in Hermann-Mauguin style is p31m, with four letters or digits; more usual is a shortened name like cmm or pg.

For wallpaper groups the full notation begins with either p or c, for a primitive cell or a face-centred cell; these are explained below. This is followed by a digit, n, indicating the highest order of rotational symmetry: 1-fold (none), 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, or 6-fold. The next two symbols indicate symmetries relative to one translation axis of the pattern, referred to as the "main" one; if there is a mirror perpendicular to a translation axis we choose that axis as the main one (or if there are two, one of them). The symbols are either m, g, or 1, for mirror, glide reflection, or none. The axis of the mirror or glide reflection is perpendicular to the main axis for the first letter, and either parallel or tilted 180°/n (when n > 2) for the second letter. Many groups include other symmetries implied by the given ones. The short notation drops digits or an m that can be deduced, so long as that leaves no confusion with another group.

A primitive cell is a minimal region repeated by lattice translations. All but two wallpaper symmetry groups are described with respect to primitive cell axes, a coordinate basis using the translation vectors of the lattice. In the remaining two cases symmetry description is with respect to centred cells which are larger than the primitive cell, and hence have internal repetition; the directions of their sides is different from those of the translation vectors spanning a primitive cell. Hermann-Mauguin notation for crystal space groups uses additional cell types.

Examples

• p2 (p211): Primitive cell, 2-fold rotation symmetry, no mirrors or glide reflections.
• p4g (p4gm): Primitive cell, 4-fold rotation, glide reflection perpendicular to main axis, mirror axis at 45°.
• cmm (c2mm): Centred cell, 2-fold rotation, mirror axes both perpendicular and parallel to main axis.
• p31m (p31m): Primitive cell, 3-fold rotation, mirror axis at 60°.

Here are all the names that differ in short and full notation.

Crystallographic short and full names

Short	p2	pm	pg	cm	pmm	pmg	pgg	cmm	p4m	p4g	p6m
Full	p211	p1m1	p1g1	c1m1	p2mm	p2mg	p2gg	c2mm	p4mm	p4gm	p6mm

The remaining names are p1, p3, p3m1, p31m, p4, and p6.

 

Conway notation

Conway's orbifold notation for wallpaper groups, introduced by John Horton Conway (Conway, 1992), is based not on crystallography, but on topology. We fold the infinite periodic tiling of the plane into its essence, an orbifold, then describe that with a few symbols.

• A digit, n, indicates a centre of n-fold rotation. By the crystallographic restriction theorem, n must be 2, 3, 4, or 6.

• An asterisk, *, indicates a mirror. It interacts with the digits as follows:
  1. Digits before * are centres of pure rotation (cyclic).
  2. Digits after * are centres of rotation with mirrors through them (dihedral).

• A cross, x, indicates a glide reflection. Pure mirrors combine with lattice translation to produce glides, but those are already accounted for so we do not notate them.

• The "no symmetry" symbol, o, stands alone, and indicates we have only lattice translations with no other symmetry.

Consider the group denoted in crystallographic notation by cmm; in Conway's notation, this will be 2*22. The 2 before the * says we have a 2-fold rotation centre with no mirror through it. The * itself says we have a mirror. The first 2 after the * says we have a 2-fold rotation centre on a mirror. The final 2 says we have an independent second 2-fold rotation centre on a mirror, one which is not a duplicate of the first one under symmetries.

The group denoted by pgg will be 22x. We have two pure 2-fold rotation centres, and a glide reflection axis. Contrast this with pmg, Conway 22*, where crystallographic notation mentions a glide, but one that is implicit in the other symmetries of the orbifold.

Conway and crystallographic correspondence

Conway	o	xx	*x	**	632	*632
Crystal.	p1	pg	cm	pm	p6	p6m
Conway	333	*333	3*3	442	*442	4*2
Crystal.	p3	p3m1	p31m	p4	p4m	p4g
Conway	2222	22x	22*	*2222	2*22
Crystal.	p2	pgg	pmg	pmm	cmm

 

Why there are exactly seventeen groups

An orbifold has a face, edges, and vertices; thus we can view it as a polygon. When we unfold it, that polygon tiles the plane, with each feature replicated infinitely by the action of the wallpaper symmetry group. Thus when Conway's orbifold notation mentions a feature, such as the 4-fold rotation centre in 4*2, that feature unfolds into an infinite number of replicas across the plane. Hiding within this description is a key to the enumeration.

Consider a cube, with its corners, edges, and faces. We count 8 corners, 12 edges, and 6 faces. Alternately adding and subtracting, we note that 8 − 12 + 6 = 2. Now consider a tetrahedron. It has 4 corners, 6 edges, and 4 faces; and we note that 4 − 6 + 4 = 2. Let's explore further. For generality, use the term vertex instead of corner. Split a face with a new edge, causing one face to become two. Now we have 4 − 7 + 5 = 2. Next, split an edge with a new vertex, causing the one edge to become two. We have 5 − 8 + 5 = 2. This is not coincidence; it is a demonstration of the surface Euler characteristic, χ = V − E + F, and the beginning of a proof of its invariance.

When an orbifold replicates by symmetry to fill the plane, its features create a structure of vertices, edges, and polygon faces which must be consistent with the Euler characteristic. Reversing the process, we can assign numbers to the features of the orbifold, but fractions, rather than whole numbers. Because the orbifold itself is a quotient of the full surface by the symmetry group, the orbifold Euler characteristic is a quotient of the surface Euler characteristic by the order of the symmetry group.

The orbifold Euler characteristic is 2 minus the sum of the feature values, assigned as follows:

• A digit n before a * counts as (n−1)/n.
• A digit n after a * counts as (n−1)/2n.
• Both * and x count as 1.
• The "no symmetry" o counts as 2.

For a wallpaper group, the sum for the characteristic must be zero; thus the feature sum must be 2.

Examples

• 632: 5/6 + 2/3 + 1/2 = 2
• 3*3: 2/3 + 1 + 1/3 = 2
• 4*2: 3/4 + 1 + 1/4 = 2
• 22x: 1/2 + 1/2 + 1 = 2

Now enumeration of all wallpaper groups becomes a matter of arithmetic, of listing all feature strings with values summing to 2.

Incidentally, feature strings with other sums are not nonsense; they imply non-planar tilings, not discussed here. (When the orbifold Euler characteristic is negative, the tiling is hyperbolic; when positive, spherical.)

 

Guide to recognising wallpaper groups

To work out which wallpaper group corresponds to a given design, one may use the following table.

Least rotation	Has reflection?
	Yes	No
360° / 6	p6m	p6
360° / 4	Has mirrors at 45°? Yes: p4m No: p4g	p4
360° / 3	Has rot. centre off mirrors? Yes: p31m No: p3m1	p3
360° / 2	Has perpendicular reflections? Yes No Has rot. centre off mirrors?     pmg     Yes: cmm No: pmm	Has glide reflection? Yes: pgg No: p2
none	Has glide axis off mirrors? Yes: cm No: pm	Has glide reflection? Yes: pg No: p1

See also this overview with diagrams.

 

Key to diagrams

Each group in the following list has two cell structure diagrams, which are interpreted as follows:

• A diamond indicates a centre of rotation of order two (180°).
• A triangle indicates a centre of rotation of order three (120°).
• A square indicates a centre of rotation of order four (90°).
• A hexagon indicates a centre of rotation of order six (60°).
• A thick line indicates an axis of reflection.
• A dotted line indicates an axis of a glide reflection.
• The brown or yellow area indicates a fundamental domain, i.e. the smallest part of the pattern which is repeated.

On the right-hand side diagrams, different equivalence classes of symmetry elements are colored (and rotated) differently.

The diagrams on the right show the cell of the lattice, often corresponding to the smallest translations; however, for cm and cmm a rectangle is shown, although there is a rhombus of half the area with translations as sides; those on the left sometimes show a larger area.

 

Lattice types

There are five lattice types, corresponding to the five possible wallpaper groups of the lattice itself. The wallpaper group of a pattern with this lattice of translational symmetry cannot have more, but may have less symmetry than the lattice itself.

• In the 5 cases of rotational symmetry of order 3 or 6, the cell consists of two equilateral triangles (hexagonal lattice, itself p6m).
• In the 3 cases of rotational symmetry of order 4, the cell is a square (square lattice, itself p4m).
• In the 5 cases of reflection or glide reflection, but not both, the cell is a rectangle (rectangular lattice, itself pmm), therefore the diagrams show a rectangle, but a special case is that it actually is a square.
• In the 2 cases of reflection combined with glide reflection, the cell is a rhombus (rhombic lattice, itself cmm); a special case is that it actually is a square.
• In the case of only rotational symmetry of order 2, and the case of no other symmetry than translational, the cell is in general a parallelogram (parallelogrammatic lattice, itself p2), therefore the diagrams show a parallelogram, but special cases are that it actually is a rectangle, rhombus, or square.

 

Group p1

• Orbifold notation: o.
• The group p1 contains only translations; there are no rotations, reflections, or glide reflections.

Examples of group p1

Computer generated

Tomb, Thebes, Egypt]. Easily confused with type p2.

Persian tapestry

Mediaeval wall diapering

 

Group p2

• Orbifold notation: 2222.
• The group p2 contains four rotation centres of order two (180°), but no reflections or glide reflections.

Examples of group p2

Computer generated	Cloth, Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)	Mat on which Egyptian king stood	Egyptian mat (detail)
Ceiling of Egyptian tomb	Wire fence, U.S.

 

Group pm

• Orbifold notation: **.
• The group pm has no rotations. It has reflection axes, they are all parallel.

Examples of group pm

(The first three have a vertical symmetry axis, and the last two each have a different diagonal one.)

Computer generated	Dress of a figure in a tomb at Biban el Moluk, Egypt]	Egyptian tomb, Thebes	Ceiling of a tomb at Gourna, Egypt. Reflection axis is diagonal.
Indian metalwork at the Great Exhibition in 1851. Reflection axis is diagonal.

 

Group pg

• Orbifold notation: xx.
• The group pg contains glide reflections only, and their axes are all parallel. There are no rotations or reflections.

Examples of group pg

Computer generated

Mat on which Egyptian king stood

Egyptian mat (detail)

Without the details inside the zigzag bands the mat is pmg; with the details but without the distinction between brown and black it is pgg.
 

 

Group cm

• Orbifold notation: *x.
• The group cm contains no rotations. It has reflection axes, all parallel. There is at least one glide reflection whose axis is not a reflection axis; it is halfway between two adjacent parallel reflection axes.

Note that although the figure on the right shows a rectangle, the rhombus of half the area has translations as sides. One of its diagonals is an axis of reflection. The glide reflection is a consequence of the other properties.

This groups applies for symmetrically staggered rows (i.e. there is a shift per row of half the translation distance inside the rows) of identical objects, which have a symmetry axis perpendicular to the rows.

Examples of group cm

Computer generated	Dress of Amun, from Abu Simbel, Egypt]	Dado from Biban el Moluk, Egypt]	Bronze vessel in Nimroud, Assyria
Spandrils of arches, the Alhambra, Spain	Soffitt of arch, the Alhambra, Spain	Persian tapestry	Indian metalwork at the Great Exhibition in 1851
Dress of a figure in a tomb at Biban el Moluk, Egypt]

 

Group pmm

• Orbifold notation: *2222.
• The group pmm has reflections in two perpendicular directions, and four rotation centres of order two (180°) located at the intersections of the reflection axes.

Examples of group pmm

Computer generated	2D image of lattice fence, U.S. (in 3D there is additional symmetry)	Mummy case stored in The Louvre	Ceiling of Egyptian tomb (almost cmm)
Mummy case stored in The Louvre. Would be type p4 except for the mismatched colouring.

 

Group pmg

• Orbifold notation: 22*.
• The group pmg has two rotation centres of order two (180°), and reflections in only one direction. It has glide reflections whose axes are perpendicular to the reflection axes. The centres of rotation all lie on glide reflection axes.

Examples of group pmg

Computer generated

Cloth, Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)

Ceiling of Egyptian tomb

Floor tiling in Prague, the Czech Republic

 

Group pgg

• Orbifold notation: 22x.
• The group pgg contains two rotation centres of order two (180°), and glide reflections in two perpendicular directions. The centres of rotation are not located on the glide reflection axes. There are no reflections.

Examples of group pgg

Computer generated

Bronze vessel in Nimroud, Assyria

Pavement in Budapest, Hungary. Glide reflection axes are diagonal.

 

Group cmm

• Orbifold notation: 2*22.
• The group cmm has reflections in two perpendicular directions, and a rotation of order two (180°) whose centre is not on a reflection axis. It also has two rotations whose centres are on a reflection axis.
• This group is frequently seen in everyday life, since the most common arrangement of bricks in a brick building utilises this group (see example below).

Note that although the figure on the right shows a rectangle, the rhombus of half the area has translations as sides. The diagonals are axes of reflection. The rotational symmetry of order 2 with centers of rotation at the centres of the sides is a consequence of the other properties.

The pattern corresponds to each of the following:

• symmetrically staggered rows of identical doubly symmetric objects
• a checkerboard pattern of two alternating rectangular tiles, of which each, by itself, is doubly symmetric
• a checkerboard pattern of alternatingly a 2-fold rotationally symmetric rectangular tile and its mirror image

Examples of group cmm

Computer generated	one of the 8 semi-regular tessellations; ignoring color this is this group cmm, otherwise group p1	Suburban brick wall, U.S.	Ceiling of Egyptian tomb. It is group cmm if the colors are taken into account (they reduce the symmetry), otherwise it is p4g.
Egyptian	Persian tapestry	Egyptian tomb

 

Group p4

• Orbifold notation: 442.
• The group p4 has two rotation centres of order four (90°), and one rotation centre of order two (180°). It has no reflections or glide reflections.

Examples of group p4

Computer generated	one of the 8 semi-regular tessellations	Ceiling of Egyptian tomb; ignoring colors this is p4, otherwise p2	Ceiling of Egyptian tomb
Frieze, the Alhambra, Spain. Requires close inspection to see why there are no reflections.	Viennese cane	Renaissance earthernware

 

Group p4m

• Orbifold notation: *442.
• The group p4m has two rotation centres of order four (90°), and reflections in four distinct directions (horizontal, vertical, and diagonals). It has additional glide reflections whose axes are not reflection axes; rotations of order two (180°) are centred at the intersection of the glide reflection axes. All rotation centres lie on reflection axes.

This corresponds to a straightforward grid of rows and columns of equal squares with the four reflection axes. Also it corresponds to a checkerboard pattern of two alternating squares.

Examples of group p4m

Examples displayed with the smallest translations horizontal and vertical (like in the diagram):

Computer generated	one of the 3 regular tessellations (in this checkerboard coloring, smallest translations are diagonal)	one of the 8 semi-regular tessellations (ignoring color also, with smaller translations)	Ornamental painting, Nineveh, Assyria
Storm drain, U.S.	Egyptian mummy case	Persian glazed tile

Examples displayed with the smallest translations diagonal (like on a checkerboard):

Cloth, Otaheite (Tahiti)

Egyptian tomb

Cathedral of Bourges

 

Group p4g

• Orbifold notation: 4*2.
• The group p4g has two centres of rotation of order four (90°), which are each other's mirror image, but it has reflections in only two directions, which are perpendicular. There are rotations of order two (180°) whose centres are located at the intersections of reflection axes. It has glide reflections axes parallel to the reflection axes, in between them, and also at an angle of 45° with these.

In p4g there is a checkerboard pattern of 4-fold rotational tiles and their mirror image, or looking at it differently (by shifting half a tile) a checkerboard pattern of horizontally and vertically symmetric tiles and their 90° rotated version. Note that neither applies for a plain checkerboard pattern of black and white tiles, this is group p4m (with diagonal translation cells).

Note that the diagram on the left represents in area twice the smallest square that is repeated by translation.

Examples of group p4g

Computer generated	Bathroom linoleum, U.S.	Painted porcelain, China	Fly screen, U.S.
Painting, China

 

Group p3

• Orbifold notation: 333.
• The group p3 has three different rotation centres of order three (120°), but no reflections or glide reflections.

Imagine a tessellation of the plane with equilateral triangles of equal size, with the sides corresponding to the smallest translations. Then half of the triangles are in one orientation, and the other half upside down. This wallpaper group corresponds to the case that all triangles of the same orientation are equal, while both types have rotational symmetry of order three, but the two are not equal, not each other's mirror image, and not both symmetric. For a given image, three of these tessellations are possible, each with rotation centres as vertices, i.e. for any tessellation two shifts are possible. In terms of the image: the vertices can be the red, the blue or the green triangles.

Equivalently, imagine a tessellation of the plane with hexagons of regular shape and equal size, with the sides corresponding to the smallest translations. Then this wallpaper group corresponds to the case that all hexagons are equal (and in the same orientation) and have rotational symmetry of order three, while they have no mirror image symmetry. For a given image, nine of these tessellations are possible, each with rotation centres as vertices. In terms of the image: the centres can be each of three selections of the red triangles, or of the blue or the green.

Examples of group p3

Computer generated

one of the 8 semi-regular tessellations (ignoring the colors: p6); the translation vectors are rotated a little to the right compared with the directions in the underlying hexagonal lattice of the image

Street pavement in Zakopane, Poland

 

Group p3m1

• Orbifold notation: *333.
• The group p3m1 has three different rotation centres of order three (120°). It has reflections in three distinct directions. The centre of every rotation lies on a reflection axis. There are additional glide reflections in three distinct directions, whose axes are located halfway between adjacent parallel reflection axes.

Like for p3, imagine a tessellation of the plane with equilateral triangles of equal size, with the sides corresponding to the smallest translations. Then half of the triangles are in one orientation, and the other half upside down. This wallpaper group corresponds to the case that all triangles of the same orientation are equal, while both types have rotational symmetry of order three, and both are symmetric, but the two are not equal, and not each other's mirror image. For a given image, three of these tessellations are possible, each with rotation centres as vertices. In terms of the image: the vertices can be the red, the dark blue or the green triangles.

Examples of group p3m1

one of the 3 regular tessellations (ignoring colors: p6m)	another regular tessellation (ignoring colors: p6m)	one of the 8 semi-regular tessellations (ignoring colors: p6m)	Persian glazed tile (ignoring colors: p6m)
Persian ornament	Floor tiling in Budapest, Hungary (ignoring colors: p6m)	Painting, China (see detailed image)

 

Group p31m

• Orbifold notation: 3*3.
• The group p31m has three different rotation centres of order three (120°), of which two are each other's mirror image. It has reflections in three distinct directions. It has at least one rotation whose centre does not lie on a reflection axis. There are additional glide reflections in three distinct directions, whose axes are located halfway between adjacent parallel reflection axes.

Like for p3 and p3m1, imagine a tessellation of the plane with equilateral triangles of equal size, with the sides corresponding to the smallest translations. Then half of the triangles are in one orientation, and the other half upside down. This wallpaper group corresponds to the case that all triangles of the same orientation are equal, while both types have rotational symmetry of order three and are each other's mirror image, but not symmetric themselves, and not equal. For a given image, only one such tessellation is possible. In terms of the image: the vertices can not be dark blue triangles.

Examples of group p31m

Persian glazed tile

Painted porcelain, China

Painting, China

 

Group p6

• Orbifold notation: 632.
• The group p6 has one rotation centre of order six (60°); it has also two rotation centres of order three, which only differ by a rotation of 60° (or, equivalently, 180°), and three of order two, which only differ by a rotation of 60°. It has no reflections or glide reflections.

Examples of group p6

Computer generated

Wall panelling, the Alhambra, Spain

Persian ornament

 

Group p6m

• Orbifold notation: *632.
• The group p6m has one rotation of order six (60°); it has also two rotation centres of order three, which only differ by a rotation of 60° (or, equivalently, 180°), and three of order two, which only differ by a rotation of 60°. It has also reflections in six distinct directions. There are additional glide reflections in six distinct directions, whose axes are located halfway between adjacent parallel reflection axes.

Examples of group "p6m"

Computer generated	one of the 8 semi-regular tessellations	another semi-regular tessellation	another semi-regular tessellation
Persian glazed tile	King's dress, Khorsabad, Assyria	Bronze vessel in Nimroud, Assyria	Byzantine marble pavement, Rome
Painted porcelain, China	Painted porcelain, China

 

Symmetry groups

The actual symmetry group should be distinguished from the wallpaper group. The latter is a category of symmetry groups. There are 17 of these categories, but for each there are infinitely many symmetry groups, in the sense of actual groups of isometries. These depend, apart from the wallpaper group, on a number of parameters for the translation vectors and the orientation and position of the reflection axes and rotation centers.

The numbers of degrees of freedom are:

• 6 for p2
• 5 for pmm, pmg, pgg, and cmm
• 4 for the rest

However, within each wallpaper group, all symmetry groups are algebraically isomorphic.

Some symmetry group isomorphisms:

• p1: Z²
• pm: Z × D_∞
• pmm: D_∞ × D_∞

 

Dependence of wallpaper groups on transformations

• The wallpaper group of a pattern is invariant under isometries and uniform scaling (similarity transformations).
• Translational symmetry is preserved under arbitrary bijective affine transformations.
• Rotational symmetry of order two ditto; this means also that 4- and 6-fold rotation centres at least keep 2-fold rotational symmetry.
• Reflection in a line and glide reflection are preserved on expansion/contraction along, or perpendicular to, the axis of reflection and glide reflection. It changes p6m, p4g, and p3m1 into cmm, p3m1 into cm, and p4m, depending on direction of expansion/contraction, into pmm or cmm. A pattern of symmetrically staggered rows of points is special in that it can convert by expansion/contraction from p6m to p4m.

Note that when a transformation decreases symmetry, a transformation of the same kind (the inverse) obviously for some patterns increases the symmetry. Such a special property of a pattern (e.g. expansion in one direction produces a pattern with 4-fold symmetry) is not counted as a form of extra symmetry.

Change of colors does not affect the wallpaper group if any two points that have the same color before the change, also have the same color after the change, and any two points that have different colors before the change, also have different colors after the change.

If the former applies, but not the latter, such as when converting a color image to one in black and white, then symmetries are preserved, but they may increase, so that the wallpaper group can change.

 

Web demo and software

There exist several software graphic tools that will let you create 2D patterns using wallpaper symmetry groups. Usually, you can edit the original tile and its copies in the entire pattern are updated automatically.

• Tess, a nagware tessellation program for multiple platforms, supports all wallpaper, frieze, and rosette groups, as well as Heesch tilings.
• Kali, free graphical symmetry editor available online and for download.
• Inkscape, a free vector graphics editor, supports all 17 groups plus arbitrary scales, shifts, rotates, and color changes per row or per column, optionally randomized to a given degree.
• SymmetryWorks is a commercial plugin for Adobe Illustrator, supports all 17 groups.
• Arabeske is a free standalone tool, supports a subset of wallpaper groups.

 

See also

• List of planar symmetry groups (summary of this page)
• Tessellation
• Point group
• Crystallography
• Frieze group
• Symmetry groups in one dimension

 

External links

• Article "The Discontinuous Groups of Rotation and Translation in the Plane" by Xah Lee
• Article "The 17 plane symmetry groups" by David E. Joyce
• Introduction to Wallpaper Patterns by Chaim Goodman-Strauss and Heidi Burgiel
• Description by Silvio Levy
• Example tiling for each group, with dynamic demos of properties
• Overview with example tiling for each group

 

References

• The Grammar of Ornament (1856), by Owen Jones. Many of the images in this article are from this book; it contains many more.
• J. H. Conway (1992). "The Orbifold Notation for Surface Groups". In: M. W. Liebeck and J. Saxl (eds.), Groups, Combinatorics and Geometry, Proceedings of the L.M.S. Durham Symposium, July 5–15, Durham, U.K., 1990; London Math. Soc. Lecture Notes Series 165. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 438–447
• Grünbaum, Branko; Shephard, G. C. (1987): Tilings and Patterns. New York: Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-1193-1.