Crystal Math

摘要

Diamonds are rarities not just on earth but also mathematically. The crystal structure of diamond has two key distinguishing properties, notes mathematician Toshikazu Sunada of Meiji University in Japan. It has maximal symmetry, which means that its components cannot be rearranged to make it any more symmetrical than it is, and a strong isotropic property, which means that it looks the same when viewed from the direction of any edge.