Paper 3, Section I, D

Groups
Part IA, 2009

Show that every orthogonal 2×22 \times 2 matrix RR is the product of at most two reflections in lines through the origin.

Every isometry of the Euclidean plane R2\mathbb{R}^{2} can be written as the composition of an orthogonal matrix and a translation. Deduce from this that every isometry of the Euclidean plane R2\mathbb{R}^{2} is a product of reflections.

Give an example of an isometry of R2\mathbb{R}^{2} that is not the product of fewer than three reflections. Justify your answer.