We are fond of saying things are symmetric, but what does that really mean? Intuitively we have a sense of symmetry as a kind of mirroring. Suppose we draw a vertical line through the middle of a ...

Symmetry attracts us. Studies comparing people’s reactions to different faces have shown, for example, that they find highly symmetrical faces more attractive than less symmetrical faces. The symmetry ...

Symmetry in advertising uses a sense of balance and proportionality to appeal to a target audience. Small businesses often do not have the capital for large advertising campaigns. Therefore, using ...

Symmetry is a powerful framework to perceive and predict the physical world. The structure of materials is described by a combination of rotations, rotation-inversions and translational symmetries. By ...

Receive emails about upcoming NOVA programs and related content, as well as featured reporting about current events through a science lens. Symmetry also has an aesthetic meaning, although this is ...

This jingle has helped generations of algebra students recall the quadratic formula that solves every equation of the form $latex ax^2+bx+c=0$. The formula is as ...

Materials react differently to electric and magnetic fields, and these reactions are known as electromagnetic responses. In ...

The 2008 Abel Prize was awarded to John Griggs Thompson of the University of Florida and Jacques Tits of the Collège de France for their contributions to group theory, the mathematical field that ...

Mathematician Katie Steckles explains just why the proliferation of snowflake decorations this time of year is deeply ...

Techniques from computer science may help explain the tendency in biology for structures to repeat themselves. By Kate Golembiewski Symmetry runs rampant in nature. It’s present wherever mirror images ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it. If you want to fully describe how the Universe works at a fundamental ...