In topology, knot theory is the study of mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are joined so it cannot be undone, the simplest knot being a ring (or "unknot"). In mathematical language, a knot is an embedding of a circle in 3-dimensional Euclidean space, . Two mathematical knots are equivalent if one can be transformed into the other via a deformation of upon itself (known as an ambient isotopy); these transformations correspond to manipulations of a knotted string that do not involve cutting it or passing it through itself.
Knots can be described in various ways. Using different description methods, there may be more than one description of the same knot. For example, a common method of describing a knot is a planar diagram called a knot diagram, in which any knot can be drawn in many different ways. 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 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. More than 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). For example, a higher-dimensional knot is an n-dimensional sphere embedded in (n+2)-dimensional Euclidean space.
History of knot theory
Archaeologists have discovered that knot tying dates back to prehistoric times.
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A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a hitch fastens a rope to another object; a bend fastens two ends of a rope to each another; a loop knot is any knot creating a loop; and splice denotes any multi-strand knot, including bends and loops. A knot may also refer, in the strictest sense, to a stopper or knob at the end of a rope to keep that end from slipping through a grommet or eye.
In mathematics, a knot is an embedding of the circle S^1 into three-dimensional Euclidean space, R3 (also known as E3). Often two knots are considered equivalent if they are ambient isotopic, that is, if there exists a continuous deformation of R3 which takes one knot to the other. A crucial difference between the standard mathematical and conventional notions of a knot is that mathematical knots are closed — there are no ends to tie or untie on a mathematical knot.
In knot theory, a figure-eight knot (also called Listing's knot) is the unique knot with a crossing number of four. This makes it the knot with the third-smallest possible crossing number, after the unknot and the trefoil knot. The figure-eight knot is a prime knot. The name is given because tying a normal figure-eight knot in a rope and then joining the ends together, in the most natural way, gives a model of the mathematical knot.
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