On the root mean square quantitative chirality and quantitative symmetry measures

The properties of the root mean square chiral index of a d-dimensional set of n points, previously investigated for planar sets, are examined for spatial sets. The properties of the root mean squares direct symmetry index, defined as the normalized minimized sum of the n squared distances between the vertices of the d-set and the permuted d-set, are compared to the properties of the chiral index. Some most dissymetric figures are analytically computed. They differ from the most chiral figures, but the most dissymetric 3-tuples and the most chiral 3-tuples have a common remarkable geometric property: the squared lengths of the sides are each equal to three times a squared distance vertex to the mean point. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0022-2488(99)01009-9].