radial symmetry

(thing) by vivid Tue Jan 16 2001 at 0:36:41
Radial symmetry is a type of reflection symmetry in which an object could be divided in half across many different planes, each passing through a central point, yielding two halves which are mirror images of each other.

Some kinds of animals are also radially symmetric -- for example, jellyfish. Starfish qualify for radial symmetry in my opinion, even though they only have five axes of symmetry.

Note that objects which are radially symmetric also exhibit rotational symmetry. An extreme example is a perfect circle, which has an infinite number of axes of symmetry, and can also be rotated an infinite number of angles to produce a figure that is the same as what you started with.

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