Torsion in physics is understood as a "twist". I can see that in a torsion group, all elements when acted upon itself a certain number of times will give itself. So I can see the idea of rotating back to itself. Are torsion groups used to represent "twists" in topology and/or geometry? Also in what context was torsion group first used historically?
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Naming in mathematics (and in physics as well) is sometimes so random. For example why "periodic" and "cyclic" mean completely different things? And why do we use words "group" or "ring" to begin with? And so on, and so on. While it is interesting I don't think we can answer all those questions. – freakish Oct 09 '19 at 09:02
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@freakish There are often historical accidents, but in many cases the reasons and history are known. You can browse the terminology tag on History of Science and Mathematics StackExchange to see examples. – Mark S. Oct 09 '19 at 11:26