Refactored flip functions

[atbenmurray]

Fixes # .

Description

A few sentences describing the changes proposed in this pull request.

Types of changes

• [x] Non-breaking change (fix or new feature that would not break existing functionality).
• [ ] Breaking change (fix or new feature that would cause existing functionality to change).
• [ ] New tests added to cover the changes.
• [ ] Integration tests passed locally by running ./runtests.sh -f -u --net --coverage.
• [ ] Quick tests passed locally by running ./runtests.sh --quick --unittests --disttests.
• [ ] In-line docstrings updated.
• [ ] Documentation updated, tested make html command in the docs/ folder.