Knot theory - Revision history

Karl Jones: /* See also */

2016-09-21T22:06:47Z

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Karl Jones: /* See also */

2016-09-21T22:05:43Z

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Karl Jones at 15:37, 29 August 2016

2016-08-29T15:37:55Z

Karl Jones: /* See also */

2016-08-29T15:37:34Z

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Karl Jones: Created page with "In topology, '''knot theory''' is the study of mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life in shoelaces and rope, a mathematician's knot differ..."

2016-08-29T15:36:19Z

Created page with "In topology, '''knot theory''' is the study of mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life in shoelaces and rope, a mathematician's knot differ..."

New page

In [[topology]], '''knot theory''' is the study of mathematical knots.

While inspired by knots which appear in daily life in shoelaces and rope, a mathematician's knot differs in that the ends are joined together so that it cannot be undone.

== Description ==

In mathematical language, a knot is an embedding of a circle in 3-dimensional Euclidean space, R3 (in topology, a circle isn't bound to the classical geometric concept, but to all of its homeomorphisms).

Two mathematical knots are equivalent if one can be transformed into the other via a deformation of R3 upon itself (known as an ambient isotopy); these transformations correspond to manipulations of a knotted string that do not involve cutting the string or passing the string through itself.

Knots can be described in various ways. Given a method of description, however, there may be more than one description that represents the same knot. For example, a common method of describing a knot is a planar diagram called a knot diagram. Any given knot can be drawn in many different ways using a knot diagram. Therefore, a fundamental problem in knot theory is determining when two descriptions represent the same knot.

A complete algorithmic solution to this problem exists, which has unknown complexity. In practice, knots are often distinguished by using a knot invariant, a "quantity" which is the same when computed from different descriptions of a knot. Important invariants include knot polynomials, knot groups, and hyperbolic invariants.

The original motivation for the founders of knot theory was to create a table of knots and links, which are knots of several components entangled with each other. Over six billion knots and links have been tabulated since the beginnings of knot theory in the 19th century.

To gain further insight, mathematicians have generalized the knot concept in several ways. Knots can be considered in other three-dimensional spaces and objects other than circles can be used; see knot (mathematics). Higher-dimensional knots are n-dimensional spheres in m-dimensional Euclidean space.

== See also ==

* [[Contact geometry#Legendrian submanifolds and knots]]
* [[Knots and graphs]]
* [[List of knot theory topics]]
* [[Molecular knot]]
* [[Necktie § Types of knot]]
* [[Quantum topology]]
* [[Ribbon theory]]

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_theory Knot theory] @ Wikipedia

[[Category:Mathematics]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:37, 29 August 2016
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−	In [[topology]], '''knot theory''' is the study of mathematical knots.	+	In [[topology]], '''knot theory''' is the study of [[Knot (mathematics)\|mathematical knots]].

	While inspired by knots which appear in daily life in shoelaces and rope, a mathematician's knot differs in that the ends are joined together so that it cannot be undone.		While inspired by knots which appear in daily life in shoelaces and rope, a mathematician's knot differs in that the ends are joined together so that it cannot be undone.

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 * [[Contact geometry#Legendrian submanifolds and knots]]
 * [[Knot (mathematics)]]
 * [[List of knot theory topics]]

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 * [[Necktie § Types of knot]]
 * [[Quantum topology]]
 * [[Ribbon theory]]
 == External links ==