Paper 2, Section II, 3G3 \mathrm{G}

Geometry and Groups
Part II, 2011

Let AA and BB be two rotations of the Euclidean plane E2\mathbb{E}^{2} about centres aa and bb respectively. Show that the conjugate ABA1A B A^{-1} is also a rotation and find its fixed point. When do AA and BB commute? Show that the commutator ABA1B1A B A^{-1} B^{-1} is a translation.

Deduce that any group of orientation-preserving isometries of the Euclidean plane either fixes a point or is infinite.