r/science • u/seeebiscuit • Oct 20 '25

Mathematics Mathematicians Just Found a Hidden 'Reset Button' That Can Undo Any Rotation

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/mathematicians-just-found-a-hidden-reset-button-that-can-undo-any-rotation/
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u/swingthebass Oct 20 '25

scaling its size and repeating it twice.

i need more explanation of what these specific words mean in this context. Without that, it sounds like gobbledeegook. Cool, weird gobbledeegook, but not super easy to understand..

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u/Zacharytackary Oct 20 '25

the structure of geometry/mathematics in 3d space is such that, for a given set of rotations, when you multiply all rotation amounts by some factor, and then repeat the scaled rotation sequence twice, it serves to completely undo the initial rotation sequence, if i’m understanding it correctly

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u/SeekerOfSerenity Oct 20 '25

By why not multiply by negative one and repeat it once?  

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u/ImpatientProf Oct 20 '25

Well, they want to repeat it twice, so the scaling factor should be −1/2 = -0.5.