Point groups in three dimensions the finite subgroups of SO(3), are: the cyclic groups "C" (the rotation group of a canonical pyramid), the dihedral groups "D" (the rotation group of a uniform prism, or canonical bipyramid), and the rotation groups "T", "O" and "I" of a regular tetrahedron, octahedron/cube and icosahedron/dodecahedron. In particular, the dihedral groups "D", "D" etc. are the rotation groups of plane regular polygons embedded in three-dimensional space, and such a figure may be considered as a degenerate regular prism. Therefore, it is also called a "dihedron" (Greek: solid with two faces), which explains the name "dihedral group". The rotation group of
Plane of rotation plane is given by Euler's formula: while the rotation in a Cartesian plane is given by the rotation matrix: In three-dimensional space there are an infinite number of planes of rotation, only one of which is involved in any given rotation. That is, for a general rotation there is precisely one plane which is associated with it or which the rotation takes place in. The only exception is the trivial rotation, corresponding to the identity matrix, in which no rotation takes place. In any rotation in three dimensions there is always a fixed axis, the axis of rotation. The rotation