crystallographic point groups (Re: NAQT ICT: Div I final team ranks)


I wrote that tossup. My only regret was that--since I learned it from 
the POV of a chemistry major, not a math major--I didn't look to see 
if it had a different name in mathematics. [This is the sort of thing 
that is always a risk when writing questions. I don't fault writers 
for a lack of prescience; I do get annoyed, though, when experienced 
writers don't even make cursory efforts to look up alternate answers 
for questions that should obviously have them (e.g., "Waiting for 
Godot").]

Also, space groups are, indeed, different from point groups, but they 
*are* represented by Schoenflies and Hermann-Mauguin symbols. The 
fact that the symbols listed are specific for point groups doesn't, 
IMO, rule out space groups as an answer. The word "infinite," 
however, does, as there are an infinite number of point groups, but 
not space groups.

--STI

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:47 AM EST EST