Comment by magicalhippo

Comment by magicalhippo 2 days ago

0 replies

Start by assuming they could potentially be all different, so denote the currents i_1 to i_12.

However note the problem is symmetrical about the vertical axis, so flip the figure. The current passing through the flipped paths should be the same as before the flip, so note down which i's equate to each other due to this.

Note that the problem is symmetrical about the horizontal axis, and do the same there. Note that the problem is symmetric when rotated 90 degrees, so do that. And so on.

In the end you'll have a bunch of i's that are equal, and you can group those into two distinct groups. Call those groups alpha and beta.

edit: Another way to look at it is that you can't use the available symmetry operations to take you from any of the alphas to a beta. This is unlike alpha to alpha, or beta to beta.