How Many Lines of Symmetry Does a Rectangle Have

Introduction

Rectangle has two lines of symmetry. A rectangle is a type of quadrilateral having 4 sides and the opposites of which are parallel and equal to each other. It is 2 dimensional. Examples of rectangles are TV screens, Monitors, Laptops, Books, Chocolates and many more.

Properties of Rectangle

A rectangle has four edges or sides. It has four vertices. It has one face. The edges of the rectangle meet each other to form four right-angled triangles. The sum of all the angles of the rectangle is 360. A rectangle has two diagonals of the same length which bisect each other. Being a 2-dimensional figure it has length and width. The longer sides are considered to be the length and the shorter is the breadth.

Symmetry

It can be defined as a similarity between the two halves of the object. If any geometrical shape or figure when turned, flipped or cut and the obtained sides are equal or mirror images of each other they are known to be symmetrical. If the sides are not equal then they are known to be non-symmetrical. For example- Human body if we divide the body horizontally it is non-symmetrical. But, if we divide our body vertically from the centre we get two symmetrical parts. Other examples of symmetrical objects are doors, wings of birds, leaves, flowers etc. The non-symmetrical objects are trees, rocks, clouds, hills etc.

Types of Symmetry

We can say there are four types of symmetry which are explained below

Translational Symmetry

When the object is translated along any point and still matches the original image or figure then it is said to be the translational symmetry. The brick wall can be considered an example of translation symmetry.

Rotational Symmetry

Rotational or Radial Symmetry is the type of symmetry in which even when we rotate the object too certain degrees we get the view of the original figure. This can be observed in various basic shapes such as triangles, squares, circles and many more.

Reflectional Symmetry

As the name suggests, when the reflection of the original shape or figure is the same as that of the original figure then it is reflective symmetry. Triangles, squares, pentagons and even rectangles show reflectional symmetry.

Glide Reflectional Symmetry

The symmetry in which the object is first reflected and then translated to a certain distance and still the same view is obtained then it is glide reflection symmetry. The basic and most common example of this is the footprints of humans left on sand or snow.

Lines of Symmetry

The imaginary line along which we try to turn or divide the object to obtain symmetrical parts is called the line of symmetry. It may also be called a mirror line as it shows mirror images of objects.

Lines of Symmetry of Rectangle

When we divide the rectangle from the centre horizontally the two sides completely overlap each other and are symmetrical. When we try to divide the rectangle from the centre vertically the obtained two parts are also symmetrical. We can call these lines a line of symmetry.

If we try to cut the rectangle and draw lines of symmetry from either of the diagonals the obtained area, perimeter and sides may be the same but they do not overlap each other hence, they are non-symmetrical and these lines cannot be considered as lines of symmetry.

Conclusion

A rectangle is found two symmetrical only along two lines of symmetry.