Infinite Dihedral Group - Definition

Definition

Every dihedral group is generated by a rotation r and a reflection; if the rotation is a rational multiple of a full rotation, then there is some integer n such that rn is the identity, and we have a finite dihedral group of order 2n. If the rotation is not a rational multiple of a full rotation, then there is no such n and the resulting group has infinitely many elements and is called Dih. It has presentations

and is isomorphic to a semidirect product of Z and Z/2, and to the free product Z/2 * Z/2. It is the automorphism group of the graph consisting of a path infinite to both sides. Correspondingly, it is the isometry group of Z (see also symmetry groups in one dimension), the group of permutations α: ZZ satisfying |i - j| = |α(i) - α(j)|, for all i, j in Z.

The infinite dihedral group can also be defined as the holomorph of the infinite cyclic group.

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