What is Symmetry?

When you are told to cut out a ‘heart’ from a piece of paper, don’t you simply fold the paper, draw
one-half of the heart at the fold and cut it out to find that the other half exactly matches the first half?
The heart carved out is an example of symmetry.

You may have often heard of the term ‘symmetry’ in day to day life. It is a balanced and
proportionate similarity found in two halves of an object, that is, one-half is the mirror image of the
other half. And a shape that is not symmetrical is referred to as asymmetrical. Symmetric objects are
found all around us, in nature, in architecture and in art.
Line of Symmetry
The imaginary line or axis along which you fold a figure to obtain the symmetrical halves is called the
line of symmetry. It basically divides an object into two mirror-image halves. The line of symmetry
can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal. There may be one or more lines of symmetry.

 1 line: Figure is symmetrical only about one axis. It may be horizontal or vertical. The word
ATOYOTA has one axis of symmetry along the axis passing through Y.

 2 lines: Figure is symmetrical only about two lines. The lines may vertical and horizontal
lines as viewed in the letters H and X.
  Infinite lines: Some figures have not one or two, but infinite lines passing through the
center, and the figure is still symmetrical. Example: a circle.

Types of Symmetry
Symmetry may be viewed when you flip, slide or turn an object. The different types are:

 Reflective or Line: A figure is symmetrical about a dotted line which divides it into two equal
halves. This is often referred to as the basic type.
 Rotational Symmetry: You rotate a shape about an axis and it appears exactly the same as
it did before rotation. Example: a square, a rectangle, etc.
A number of other kinds of symmetric types exist such as the point, translational, glide reflectional,
helical, etc. which are beyond of the scope of learning at this stage. Know much more about two
lines of symmetry and reflection symmetry and also get the detailed solutions to the questions of the
NCERT Books for the chapter Symmetry at BYJU’S.

Line of Symmetry
 Here my dog "Flame" has her face
made perfectly symmetrical with a bit
of photo magic.

The white line down the centre is the

Line of Symmetry

Read more at Reflection Symmetry.

Folding Test
You can find if a shape has a Line of Symmetry by folding it.

When the folded part sits perfectly on top (all edges matching), then the fold
line is a Line of Symmetry.

Here I have folded a rectangle one way, and it didn't work.

So this is not a Line of Symmetry

But when I try it this way, it does work (the folded part sits perfectly on top,
all edges matching):

So this is a Line of Symmetry

Triangles
A Triangle can have 3, or 1 or no lines of symmetry:
 Equilateral Triangle Isosceles Triangle Scalene Triangle
(all sides equal, (two sides equal, (no sides equal,
all angles equal) two angles equal) no angles equal)
3 Lines of Symmetry 1 Line of Symmetry No Lines of Symmetry

Quadrilaterals
Different types of Quadrilaterals (a 4-sided plane shape):

Square Rectangle
Irregular
(all sides equal, (opposite sides equal,
Quadrilateral
all angles 90°) all angles 90°)
4 Lines of Symmetry 2 Lines of Symmetry No Lines of Symmetry

Rhombus
Kite
(all sides equal length)
1 Line of Symmetry 2 Lines of Symmetry
Regular Polygons
A regular polygon has all sides equal, and all angles equal:

An Equilateral Triangle (3
sides)
has 3 Lines of Symmetry

A Square (4 sides)
has 4 Lines of Symmetry

A Regular Pentagon (5 sides)

has 5 Lines of Symmetry

A Regular Hexagon (6
sides)
has 6 Lines of Symmetry

A Regular Heptagon (7 sides)

has 7 Lines of Symmetry
 A Regular Octagon (8
sides)
has 8 Lines of Symmetry

And the pattern continues:

 A regular polygon of 9 sides has 9 Lines of Symmetry

 A regular polygon of 10 sides has 10 Lines of Symmetry
 ...
 A regular polygon of "n" sides has "n" Lines of Symmetry

Circle
A line (drawn at any angle) that goes through its centre is a
Line of Symmetry.

So a Circle has infinite Lines of Symmetry.

Lines Symmetry
The graphic below illustrates the number of lines of symmetry that various types of
shapes have. Note that for regular polygons, the number of lines of symmetry is same as
the number of sides that the shape has.
 The isosceles trapezoid has one line of symmetry, the perpendicular bisector of the base. The scalene
triangle has no lines of symmetry. The isosceles triangle has one line of symmetry, the perpendicular
bisector of the base. The ellipse has two lines of symmetry, one along the major and one along the minor
axis. The rectangle has two lines of symmetry, the perpendicular bisector of the longer sides, and the
perpendicular bisector of the shorter sides. The circle has infinitely many lines of symmetry, any line going
through the center. (Any diameter is a line of symmetry.) The parallelogram pictured has no lines of
symmetry. Neither does the trapezoid.

Line Symmetry
A figure has a line of symmetry if it maps onto itself under reflection in the line.
e.g.

 A rectangle has 2 axes of symmetry. (m and n are axes of

symmetry.)

 A regular hexagon has 6 axes of symmetry.

 A circle has an infinite number of axes of symmetry.

 The figure below has no axis of symmetry.

 Rotational Symmetry
A figure has rotational symmetry if it maps onto itself under rotation about a point at
its centre.
The order of rotational symmetry is the number of times the shape maps onto itself
during a rotation of 360°.
e.g.
 A rectangle has order of rotational symmetry of 2.

180° and 360° rotations will map it onto itself.

 A regular hexagon has order of rotational symmetry of 6.

 A scalene triangle, with no equal sides or angles has

order of rotational symmetry of 1.

 All figures have an order of rotational symmetry of at least 1.

Total Order of Symmetry

The total order of symmetry = number of axes of symmetry + order of rotational
symmetry.
The table shows the symmetry properties of some common shapes.

Axes of Order of rotational Total order of

Shape
symmetry symmetry symmetry

Scalene triangle 0 1 1

Isosceles triangle 1 1 2

Equilateral triangle 3 3 6

Kite 1 1 2

Trapezium 0 1 1
Isosceles 1 1 2
trapezium

Parallelogram 0 2 2

Rhombus 2 2 4

Rectangle 2 2 4

Square 4 4 8

Regular pentagon 5 5 10

Regular hexagon 6 6 12

Regular octagon 8 8 16

A figure has point symmetry if it maps onto itself under a rotation of 180° (a half
turn).
The diagram shows the outline of a British 50p coin.
How many lines of symmetry does it have
This star is made up of equilateral triangles:

What is the order of rotational symmetry of the star?

What is the order of rotational symmetry of this star?

What is the order of rotational symmetry of this shape?