Editing Schoenflies notation (section)

{{Short description|Notation to represent symmetry in point groups}}
[[File:Pentagonale_bipiramide.png | thumb | right | alt= A 3D object showing a translucent pentagonal bipyramid visualising the Schoenflies notation.  | A [[pentagonal bipyramid]] and the Schoenflies notation that defines its symmetry: ''D''<sub>5h</sub> (a vertical quintuple axis of symmetry and a plane of horizontal symmetry equidistant from the two vertices)]]

The '''Schoenflies''' (or '''Schönflies''') '''notation''', named after the [[Germans|German]] mathematician [[Arthur Moritz Schoenflies]], is a notation primarily used to specify [[point groups in three dimensions]]. Because a point group alone is completely adequate to describe the [[Molecular symmetry|symmetry of a molecule]], the notation is often sufficient and commonly used for [[spectroscopy]]. However, in [[crystallography]], there is additional [[translational symmetry]], and point groups are not enough to describe the full symmetry of crystals, so the full [[space group]] is usually used instead. The naming of full space groups usually follows another common convention, the [[Hermann–Mauguin notation]], also known as the international notation.

Although Schoenflies notation without superscripts is a pure point group notation, optionally, superscripts can be added to further specify individual space groups. However, for space groups, the connection to the underlying [[symmetry element]]s is much more clear in Hermann–Mauguin notation, so the latter notation is usually preferred for space groups.