♦♦♦ Une drôle d'opération ? (2)

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Some geometric problems, however complicated they may look, quickly become clear once geometric transformations are brought in, and are often solved by composing them. To do this, it helps to recast them in vector terms.

A simple, classic, real-world application of the mathematical concept of a group can be found in social anthropology. It was brought to light by the anthropologist and ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, working with the mathematician André Weil.

A symmetry appearing out of nowhere, an equilateral triangle emerging amid the trisectors of a completely arbitrary triangle: that is the whole "miracle" of Morley and his theorem. The many proofs of this beautiful property are marvels of geometry and trigonometry.

The concept of a group emerged in the early 19th century to solve polynomial equations and very quickly spread to other fields, including those outside mathematics: it allows us to focus on relationships between objects rather than on the objects themselves.