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Knottheory
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Intopology,knottheoryisthestudyofmathematicalknots.
Whileinspiredbyknotswhichappearindailylifeinshoelaces
andrope,amathematician'sknotdiffersinthattheendsare
joinedtogethersothatitcannotbeundone.Inmathematical
language,aknotisanembeddingofacirclein3dimensional
Euclideanspace,R3(intopology,acircleisn'tboundtothe
classicalgeometricconcept,buttoallofitshomeomorphisms).
Twomathematicalknotsareequivalentifonecanbetransformed
intotheotherviaadeformationofR3uponitself(knownasan
ambientisotopy)thesetransformationscorrespondto
manipulationsofaknottedstringthatdonotinvolvecuttingthe
stringorpassingthestringthroughitself.

Athreedimensionaldepictionofa
thickenedtrefoilknot,thesimplest
nontrivialknot

Knotscanbedescribedinvariousways.Givenamethodof
description,however,theremaybemorethanonedescription
thatrepresentsthesameknot.Forexample,acommonmethodof
describingaknotisaplanardiagramcalledaknotdiagram.Any
givenknotcanbedrawninmanydifferentwaysusingaknot
diagram.Therefore,afundamentalprobleminknottheoryis
determiningwhentwodescriptionsrepresentthesameknot.
Acompletealgorithmicsolutiontothisproblemexists,which
hasunknowncomplexity.Inpractice,knotsareoften
distinguishedbyusingaknotinvariant,a"quantity"whichisthe
samewhencomputedfromdifferentdescriptionsofaknot.
Importantinvariantsincludeknotpolynomials,knotgroups,and
hyperbolicinvariants.

Aknotdiagramofthetrefoilknot

Theoriginalmotivationforthefoundersofknottheorywasto
createatableofknotsandlinks,whichareknotsofseveralcomponentsentangledwitheachother.Over
sixbillionknotsandlinkshavebeentabulatedsincethebeginningsofknottheoryinthe19thcentury.
Togainfurtherinsight,mathematicianshavegeneralizedtheknotconceptinseveralways.Knotscanbe
consideredinotherthreedimensionalspacesandobjectsotherthancirclescanbeusedseeknot
(mathematics).HigherdimensionalknotsarendimensionalspheresinmdimensionalEuclideanspace.

Contents
1 History
2 Knotequivalence
3 Knotdiagrams
3.1 Reidemeistermoves
4 Knotinvariants
4.1 Knotpolynomials
4.2 Hyperbolicinvariants
5 Higherdimensions
5.1 Knottingspheresofhigherdimension

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5.1 Knottingspheresofhigherdimension
6 Addingknots
7 Tabulatingknots
7.1 AlexanderBriggsnotation
7.2 Dowkernotation
7.3 Conwaynotation
7.4 GaussCode
8 Seealso
9 References
10 Furtherreading
10.1 Introductorytextbooks
10.2 Surveys
11 Externallinks
11.1 History
11.2 Knottablesandsoftware

History
Archaeologistshavediscoveredthatknottyingdatesbacktoprehistoric
times.Besidestheirusessuchasrecordinginformationandtyingobjects
together,knotshaveinterestedhumansfortheiraestheticsandspiritual
symbolism.KnotsappearinvariousformsofChineseartworkdating
fromseveralcenturiesBC(seeChineseknotting).Theendlessknot
appearsinTibetanBuddhism,whiletheBorromeanringshavemade
repeatedappearancesindifferentcultures,oftenrepresentingstrengthin
unity.TheCelticmonkswhocreatedtheBookofKellslavishedentire
pageswithintricateCelticknotwork.
Amathematicaltheoryofknotswasfirstdevelopedin1771by
IntricateCelticknotworkin
AlexandreThophileVandermondewhoexplicitlynotedtheimportance
the1200yearoldBookof
oftopologicalfeatureswhendiscussingthepropertiesofknotsrelatedto
Kells
thegeometryofposition.Mathematicalstudiesofknotsbeganinthe
19thcenturywithGauss,whodefinedthelinkingintegral(Silver2006).
Inthe1860s,LordKelvin'stheorythatatomswereknotsintheaetherledtoPeterGuthrieTait'screation
ofthefirstknottablesforcompleteclassification.Tait,in1885,publishedatableofknotswithuptoten
crossings,andwhatcametobeknownastheTaitconjectures.Thisrecordmotivatedtheearlyknot
theorists,butknottheoryeventuallybecamepartoftheemergingsubjectoftopology.
Thesetopologistsintheearlypartofthe20thcenturyMaxDehn,J.W.Alexander,andothers
studiedknotsfromthepointofviewoftheknotgroupandinvariantsfromhomologytheorysuchasthe
Alexanderpolynomial.Thiswouldbethemainapproachtoknottheoryuntilaseriesofbreakthroughs
transformedthesubject.
Inthelate1970s,WilliamThurstonintroducedhyperbolicgeometryintothestudyofknotswiththe
hyperbolizationtheorem.Manyknotswereshowntobehyperbolicknots,enablingtheuseofgeometry
indefiningnew,powerfulknotinvariants.ThediscoveryoftheJonespolynomialbyVaughanJonesin
1984(Sossinsky2002,pp.7189),andsubsequentcontributionsfromEdwardWitten,Maxim
Kontsevich,andothers,revealeddeepconnectionsbetweenknottheoryandmathematicalmethodsin
statisticalmechanicsandquantumfieldtheory.Aplethoraofknotinvariantshavebeeninventedsince
then,utilizingsophisticatedtoolssuchasquantumgroupsandFloerhomology.
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Inthelastseveraldecadesofthe20thcentury,scientistsbecame
interestedinstudyingphysicalknotsinordertounderstandknotting
phenomenainDNAandotherpolymers.Knottheorycanbeusedto
determineifamoleculeischiral(hasa"handedness")ornot(Simon
1986).Tangles,stringswithbothendsfixedinplace,havebeen
effectivelyusedinstudyingtheactionoftopoisomeraseonDNA(Flapan
2000).Knottheorymaybecrucialintheconstructionofquantum
computers,throughthemodeloftopologicalquantumcomputation
(Collins2006).

Knotequivalence
Thefirstknottabulator,
PeterGuthrieTait

Aknotis
createdby
beginning
withaone

dimensionallinesegment,wrappingit
arounditselfarbitrarily,andthenfusingits
twofreeendstogethertoformaclosed
loop(Adams2004)(Sossinsky2002).
Simply,wecansayaknot isan
Ontheleft,theunknot,andaknotequivalenttoit.Itcanbe
injectiveandcontinuousfunction
moredifficulttodeterminewhethercomplexknots,suchasthe
with
oneontheright,areequivalenttotheunknot.
.Whentopologistsconsiderknotsand
otherentanglementssuchaslinksand
braids,theyconsiderthespacesurroundingtheknotasaviscousfluid.Iftheknotcanbepushedabout
smoothlyinthefluid,withoutintersectingitself,tocoincidewithanotherknot,thetwoknotsare
consideredequivalent.Theideaofknotequivalenceistogiveaprecisedefinitionofwhentwoknots
shouldbeconsideredthesameevenwhenpositionedquitedifferentlyinspace.Aformalmathematical
definitionisthattwoknots
areequivalentifthereisanorientationpreservinghomeomorphism
with
,andthisisknownasanambientisotopy.
Thebasicproblemofknottheory,therecognitionproblem,isdeterminingtheequivalenceoftwo
knots.Algorithmsexisttosolvethisproblem,withthefirstgivenbyWolfgangHakeninthelate1960s
(Hass1998).Nonetheless,thesealgorithmscanbeextremelytimeconsuming,andamajorissueinthe
theoryistounderstandhowhardthisproblemreallyis(Hass1998).Thespecialcaseofrecognizingthe
unknot,calledtheunknottingproblem,isofparticularinterest(Hoste2005).

Knotdiagrams
Ausefulwaytovisualiseandmanipulateknotsistoprojecttheknotontoaplanethinkoftheknot
castingashadowonthewall.Asmallchangeinthedirectionofprojectionwillensurethatitisoneto
oneexceptatthedoublepoints,calledcrossings,wherethe"shadow"oftheknotcrossesitselfonce
transversely(Rolfsen1976).Ateachcrossing,tobeabletorecreatetheoriginalknot,theoverstrand
mustbedistinguishedfromtheunderstrand.Thisisoftendonebycreatingabreakinthestrandgoing
underneath.Theresultingdiagramisanimmersedplanecurvewiththeadditionaldataofwhichstrandis
overandwhichisunderateachcrossing.(Thesediagramsarecalledknotdiagramswhenthey
representaknotandlinkdiagramswhentheyrepresentalink.)Analogously,knottedsurfacesin4
spacecanberelatedtoimmersedsurfacesin3space.
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Areduceddiagramisaknotdiagraminwhichtherearenoreduciblecrossings(alsonugatoryor
removablecrossings),orinwhichallofthereduciblecrossingshavebeenremoved.(Weisstein,
ReducedKnotDiagram)(Weisstein,ReducibleCrossing)

Reidemeistermoves
In1927,workingwiththisdiagrammaticformofknots,J.W.AlexanderandG.B.Briggs,and
independentlyKurtReidemeister,demonstratedthattwoknotdiagramsbelongingtothesameknotcan
berelatedbyasequenceofthreekindsofmovesonthediagram,shownbelow.Theseoperations,now
calledtheReidemeistermoves,are:
I.Twistanduntwistineitherdirection.
II.Moveonestrandcompletelyoveranother.
III.Moveastrandcompletelyoverorunderacrossing.
Reidemeistermoves

TypeI

TypeII

TypeIII
TheproofthatdiagramsofequivalentknotsareconnectedbyReidemeistermovesreliesonananalysis
ofwhathappensundertheplanarprojectionofthemovementtakingoneknottoanother.Themovement
canbearrangedsothatalmostallofthetimetheprojectionwillbeaknotdiagram,exceptatfinitely
manytimeswhenan"event"or"catastrophe"occurs,suchaswhenmorethantwostrandscrossata
pointormultiplestrandsbecometangentatapoint.Acloseinspectionwillshowthatcomplicated
eventscanbeeliminated,leavingonlythesimplestevents:(1)a"kink"formingorbeingstraightened
out(2)twostrandsbecomingtangentatapointandpassingthroughand(3)threestrandscrossingata
point.ThesearepreciselytheReidemeistermoves(Sossinsky2002,ch.3)(Lickorish1997,ch.1).

Knotinvariants
Aknotinvariantisa"quantity"thatisthesameforequivalentknots(Adams2004)(Lickorish1997)
(Rolfsen1976).Forexample,iftheinvariantiscomputedfromaknotdiagram,itshouldgivethesame
valuefortwoknotdiagramsrepresentingequivalentknots.Aninvariantmaytakethesamevalueontwo
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differentknots,sobyitselfmaybeincapableofdistinguishingallknots.Anelementaryinvariantis
tricolorability.
"Classical"knotinvariantsincludetheknotgroup,whichisthefundamentalgroupoftheknot
complement,andtheAlexanderpolynomial,whichcanbecomputedfromtheAlexanderinvariant,a
moduleconstructedfromtheinfinitecycliccoveroftheknotcomplement(Lickorish1997)(Rolfsen
1976).Inthelate20thcentury,invariantssuchas"quantum"knotpolynomials,Vassilievinvariantsand
hyperbolicinvariantswerediscovered.Theseaforementionedinvariantsareonlythetipoftheicebergof
modernknottheory.

Knotpolynomials
Aknotpolynomialisaknotinvariantthatisapolynomial.WellknownexamplesincludetheJonesand
Alexanderpolynomials.AvariantoftheAlexanderpolynomial,theAlexanderConwaypolynomial,isa
polynomialinthevariablezwithintegercoefficients(Lickorish1997).
TheAlexanderConwaypolynomialisactuallydefinedintermsoflinks,whichconsistofoneormore
knotsentangledwitheachother.Theconceptsexplainedaboveforknots,e.g.diagramsand
Reidemeistermoves,alsoholdforlinks.
Consideranorientedlinkdiagram,i.e.oneinwhicheverycomponentofthelinkhasapreferred
directionindicatedbyanarrow.Foragivencrossingofthediagram,let
betheoriented
linkdiagramsresultingfromchangingthediagramasindicatedinthefigure:

Theoriginaldiagrammightbeeither
theAlexanderConwaypolynomial,

or ,dependingonthechosencrossing'sconfiguration.Then
,isrecursivelydefinedaccordingtotherules:

(where isanydiagramoftheunknot)

Thesecondruleiswhatisoftenreferredtoasaskeinrelation.Tocheckthattheserulesgiveaninvariant
ofanorientedlink,oneshoulddeterminethatthepolynomialdoesnotchangeunderthethree
Reidemeistermoves.Manyimportantknotpolynomialscanbedefinedinthisway.
Thefollowingisanexampleofatypicalcomputationusingaskeinrelation.ItcomputestheAlexander
Conwaypolynomialofthetrefoilknot.Theyellowpatchesindicatewheretherelationisapplied.
C(

)=C(

)+zC(

givestheunknotandtheHopflink.ApplyingtherelationtotheHopflinkwhereindicated,
C(

)=C(

)+zC(

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givesalinkdeformabletoonewith0crossings(itisactuallytheunlinkoftwocomponents)andan
unknot.Theunlinktakesabitofsneakiness:
C(

)=C(

)+zC(

whichimpliesthatC(unlinkoftwocomponents)=0,sincethefirsttwopolynomialsareoftheunknot
andthusequal.
Puttingallthistogetherwillshow:
C(trefoil)=1+z(0+z)=1+z2.
SincetheAlexanderConwaypolynomialisaknotinvariant,thisshowsthatthetrefoilisnotequivalent
totheunknot.Sothetrefoilreallyis"knotted".

Theleft
handedtrefoil
knot.

Theright
handedtrefoil
knot.

Actually,therearetwotrefoilknots,calledtherightandlefthandedtrefoils,whicharemirrorimagesof
eachother(takeadiagramofthetrefoilgivenaboveandchangeeachcrossingtotheotherwaytoget
themirrorimage).Thesearenotequivalenttoeachother,meaningthattheyarenotamphicheiral.This
wasshownbyMaxDehn,beforetheinventionofknotpolynomials,usinggrouptheoreticalmethods
(Dehn1914).ButtheAlexanderConwaypolynomialofeachkindoftrefoilwillbethesame,ascanbe
seenbygoingthroughthecomputationabovewiththemirrorimage.TheJonespolynomialcaninfact
distinguishbetweentheleftandrighthandedtrefoilknots(Lickorish1997).

Hyperbolicinvariants
WilliamThurstonprovedmanyknotsarehyperbolicknots,meaningthattheknotcomplement,i.e.the
setofpointsof3spacenotontheknot,admitsageometricstructure,inparticularthatofhyperbolic
geometry.Thehyperbolicstructuredependsonlyontheknotsoanyquantitycomputedfromthe
hyperbolicstructureisthenaknotinvariant(Adams2004).
Geometryletsusvisualizewhattheinsideofaknotorlinkcomplementlookslikebyimagininglight
raysastravelingalongthegeodesicsofthegeometry.Anexampleisprovidedbythepictureofthe
complementoftheBorromeanrings.Theinhabitantofthislinkcomplementisviewingthespacefrom
neartheredcomponent.Theballsinthepictureareviewsofhoroballneighborhoodsofthelink.By
thickeningthelinkinastandardway,thehoroballneighborhoodsofthelinkcomponentsareobtained.
Eventhoughtheboundaryofaneighborhoodisatorus,whenviewedfrominsidethelinkcomplement,
itlookslikeasphere.Eachlinkcomponentshowsupasinfinitelymanyspheres(ofonecolor)asthere

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areinfinitelymanylightraysfromtheobserverto
thelinkcomponent.Thefundamentalparallelogram
(whichisindicatedinthepicture),tilesboth
verticallyandhorizontallyandshowshowtoextend
thepatternofspheresinfinitely.
Thispattern,thehoroballpattern,isitselfauseful
invariant.Otherhyperbolicinvariantsincludethe
shapeofthefundamentalparalleogram,lengthof
shortestgeodesic,andvolume.Modernknotand
linktabulationeffortshaveutilizedtheseinvariants
effectively.Fastcomputersandclevermethodsof
obtainingtheseinvariantsmakecalculatingthese
invariants,inpractice,asimpletask(Adams,
Hildebrand&Weeks1991).

TheBorromeanrings
arealinkwiththe
propertythatremoving
oneringunlinksthe
others.

SnapPea'scuspview:
theBorromeanrings
complementfromthe
perspectiveofan
inhabitantlivingnear
theredcomponent.

Higherdimensions
Aknotinthreedimensionscanbeuntiedwhenplacedinfourdimensionalspace.Thisisdoneby
changingcrossings.Supposeonestrandisbehindanotherasseenfromachosenpoint.Liftitintothe
fourthdimension,sothereisnoobstacle(thefrontstrandhavingnocomponentthere)thenslideit
forward,anddropitback,nowinfront.Analogiesfortheplanewouldbeliftingastringupoffthe
surface,orremovingadotfrominsideacircle.
Infact,infourdimensions,anynonintersectingclosedloopofonedimensionalstringisequivalentto
anunknot.First"push"theloopintoathreedimensionalsubspace,whichisalwayspossible,though
technicaltoexplain.

Knottingspheresofhigherdimension
Sinceaknotcanbeconsideredtopologicallya1dimensionalsphere,thenextgeneralizationisto
consideratwodimensionalsphereembeddedinafourdimensionalball.Suchanembeddingis
unknottedifthereisahomeomorphismofthe4sphereontoitselftakingthe2spheretoastandard
"round"2sphere.Suspendedknotsandspunknotsaretwotypicalfamiliesofsuch2sphereknots.
Themathematicaltechniquecalled"generalposition"impliesthatforagivennsphereinthemsphere,
ifmislargeenough(dependingonn),thesphereshouldbeunknotted.Ingeneral,piecewiselinearn
spheresformknotsonlyin(n+2)space(Zeeman1963),althoughthisisnolongerarequirementfor
smoothlyknottedspheres.Infact,therearesmoothlyknotted(4k1)spheresin6kspace,e.g.thereisa
smoothlyknotted3sphereinthe6sphere(Haefliger1962)(Levine1965).Thusthecodimensionofa
smoothknotcanbearbitrarilylargewhennotfixingthedimensionoftheknottedspherehowever,any
smoothksphereinannspherewith2n3k3>0isunknotted.Thenotionofaknothasfurther
generalisationsinmathematics,see:knot(mathematics),isotopyclassificationofembeddings.
EveryknotinSnisthelinkofarealalgebraicsetwithisolatedsingularityinRn+1(Akbulut&King
1981).
AnnknotisasingleSnembeddedinSm.AnnlinkiskcopiesofSnembeddedinSm,wherekisa
naturalnumber.Boththem=n+2caseandthem>n+2caseareresearchedwell.Then>1casehas
differentfuturesfromthen=1caseandisanexcitingfield.[1][2]
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Addingknots
Twoknotscanbeaddedbycuttingbothknotsandjoiningthe
pairsofends.Theoperationiscalledtheknotsum,orsometimes
theconnectedsumorcompositionoftwoknots.Thiscanbe
formallydefinedasfollows(Adams2004):consideraplanar
projectionofeachknotandsupposetheseprojectionsare
disjoint.Findarectangleintheplanewhereonepairofopposite
Addingtwoknots
sidesarearcsalongeachknotwhiletherestoftherectangleis
disjointfromtheknots.Formanewknotbydeletingthefirstpair
ofoppositesidesandadjoiningtheotherpairofoppositesides.Theresultingknotisasumofthe
originalknots.Dependingonhowthisisdone,twodifferentknots(butnomore)mayresult.This
ambiguityinthesumcanbeeliminatedregardingtheknotsasoriented,i.e.havingapreferreddirection
oftravelalongtheknot,andrequiringthearcsoftheknotsinthesumareorientedconsistentlywiththe
orientedboundaryoftherectangle.
Theknotsumoforientedknotsiscommutativeandassociative.Aknotisprimeifitisnontrivialand
cannotbewrittenastheknotsumoftwonontrivialknots.Aknotthatcanbewrittenassuchasumis
composite.Thereisaprimedecompositionforknots,analogoustoprimeandcompositenumbers
(Schubert1949).Fororientedknots,thisdecompositionisalsounique.Higherdimensionalknotscan
alsobeaddedbuttherearesomedifferences.Whileyoucannotformtheunknotinthreedimensionsby
addingtwonontrivialknots,youcaninhigherdimensions,atleastwhenoneconsiderssmoothknotsin
codimensionatleast3.

Tabulatingknots
Traditionally,knotshavebeencataloguedin
termsofcrossingnumber.Knottables
generallyincludeonlyprimeknots,andonly
oneentryforaknotanditsmirrorimage
(eveniftheyaredifferent)(Hoste,
Thistlethwaite&Weeks1998).Thenumber
ofnontrivialknotsofagivencrossing
numberincreasesrapidly,makingtabulation
computationallydifficult(Hoste2005,
p.20).Tabulationeffortshavesucceededin
enumeratingover6billionknotsandlinks
(Hoste2005,p.28).Thesequenceofthe
numberofprimeknotsofagivencrossing
number,uptocrossingnumber16,is0,0,1,
1,2,3,7,21,49,165,552,2176,9988,
Atableofprimeknotsuptosevencrossings.Theknotsare
46972,253293,1388705...(sequence
labeledwithAlexanderBriggsnotation
A002863inOEIS).Whileexponentialupper
andlowerboundsforthissequenceare
known,ithasnotbeenproventhatthissequenceisstrictlyincreasing(Adams2004).
ThefirstknottablesbyTait,Little,andKirkmanusedknotdiagrams,althoughTaitalsousedaprecursor
totheDowkernotation.Differentnotationshavebeeninventedforknotswhichallowmoreefficient
tabulation(Hoste2005).

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Theearlytablesattemptedtolistallknotsofatmost10crossings,andallalternatingknotsof11
crossings(Hoste,Thistlethwaite&Weeks1998).ThedevelopmentofknottheoryduetoAlexander,
Reidemeister,Seifert,andotherseasedthetaskofverificationandtablesofknotsuptoandincluding9
crossingswerepublishedbyAlexanderBriggsandReidemeisterinthelate1920s.
Thefirstmajorverificationofthisworkwasdoneinthe1960sbyJohnHortonConway,whonotonly
developedanewnotationbutalsotheAlexanderConwaypolynomial(Conway1970)(Doll&Hoste
1991).Thisverifiedthelistofknotsofatmost11crossingsandanewlistoflinksupto10crossings.
ConwayfoundanumberofomissionsbutonlyoneduplicationintheTaitLittletableshoweverhe
missedtheduplicatescalledthePerkopair,whichwouldonlybenoticedin1974byKennethPerko
(Perko1974).ThisfamouserrorwouldpropagatewhenDaleRolfsenaddedaknottableinhis
influentialtext,basedonConway'swork.Conway's(only)paperonknottheoryalsocontainsa
typographicalduplicationonitsnonalternating11crossingknotspageandomits4examples2
previouslylistedinD.Lombardero's1968Princetonseniorthesisand2moresubsequentlydiscovered
byA.Caudron.[seePerko(1982),Primalityofcertainknots,TopologyProceedings]Lessfamousisthe
duplicateinhis10crossinglinktable:2.2.20.20isthemirrorof8*20:20.[SeePerko(2016),
Historicalhighlightsofnoncyclicknottheory,J.KnotTheoryRamifications].
Inthelate1990sHoste,Thistlethwaite,andWeekstabulatedalltheknotsthrough16crossings(Hoste,
Thistlethwaite&Weeks1998).In2003Rankin,Flint,andSchermann,tabulatedthealternatingknots
through22crossings(Hoste2005).

AlexanderBriggsnotation
Thisisthemosttraditionalnotation,duetothe1927paperofJ.W.AlexanderandG.Briggsandlater
extendedbyDaleRolfseninhisknottable(seeimageaboveandListofprimeknots).Thenotation
simplyorganizesknotsbytheircrossingnumber.Onewritesthecrossingnumberwithasubscriptto
denoteitsorderamongstallknotswiththatcrossingnumber.Thisorderisarbitraryandsohasno
specialsignificance(thoughineachnumberofcrossingsthetwistknotcomesafterthetorusknot).
Linksarewrittenbythecrossingnumberwithasuperscripttodenotethenumberofcomponentsanda
subscripttodenoteitsorderwithinthelinkswiththesamenumberofcomponentsandcrossings.Thus
2

thetrefoilknotisnotated31andtheHopflinkis21.

Dowkernotation
TheDowkernotation,alsocalledtheDowkerThistlethwaitenotationorcode,foraknotisafinite
sequenceofevenintegers.Thenumbersaregeneratedbyfollowingtheknotandmarkingthecrossings
withconsecutiveintegers.Sinceeachcrossingisvisitedtwice,thiscreatesapairingofevenintegers
withoddintegers.Anappropriatesignisgiventoindicateoverandundercrossing.Forexample,inthis
figuretheknotdiagramhascrossingslabelledwiththepairs(1,6)(3,12)(5,2)(7,8)(9,4)and
(11,10).TheDowkernotationforthislabellingisthesequence:61228410.Aknotdiagramhas
morethanonepossibleDowkernotation,andthereisawellunderstoodambiguitywhenreconstructing
aknotfromaDowkernotation.

Conwaynotation
TheConwaynotationforknotsandlinks,namedafterJohnHortonConway,isbasedonthetheoryof
tangles(Conway1970).Theadvantageofthisnotationisthatitreflectssomepropertiesoftheknotor
link.

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Thenotationdescribeshowtoconstructaparticularlinkdiagram
ofthelink.Startwithabasicpolyhedron,a4valentconnected
planargraphwithnodigonregions.Suchapolyhedronis
denotedfirstbythenumberofverticesthenanumberofasterisks
whichdeterminethepolyhedron'spositiononalistofbasic
polyhedron.Forexample,10**denotesthesecond10vertex
polyhedrononConway'slist.
Eachvertexthenhasanalgebraictanglesubstitutedintoit(each
vertexisorientedsothereisnoarbitrarychoiceinsubstitution).
Eachsuchtanglehasanotationconsistingofnumbersand+or
signs.
Anexampleis1*232.The1*denotestheonly1vertexbasic
polyhedron.The232isasequencedescribingthecontinued
fractionassociatedtoarationaltangle.Oneinsertsthistangleat
thevertexofthebasicpolyhedron1*.
Amorecomplicatedexampleis8*3.1.20.1.1.1.1.1Hereagain
8*referstoabasicpolyhedronwith8vertices.Theperiods
separatethenotationforeachtangle.

Aknotdiagramwithcrossings
labelledforaDowkersequence

Anylinkadmitssuchadescription,anditisclearthisisavery
compactnotationevenforverylargecrossingnumber.Thereare
somefurthershorthandsusuallyused.Thelastexampleisusuallywritten8*3:20,wheretheonesare
omittedandkeptthenumberofdotsexceptingthedotsattheend.Foranalgebraicknotsuchasinthe
firstexample,1*isoftenomitted.
Conway'spioneeringpaperonthesubjectlistsupto10vertexbasicpolyhedraofwhichheusesto
tabulatelinks,whichhavebecomestandardforthoselinks.Forafurtherlistingofhighervertex
polyhedra,therearenonstandardchoicesavailable.

GaussCode
GaussCode,similartoDowkerNotation,representsaknotwithasequenceofintegers.However,rather
thaneverycrossingbeingrepresentedbytwodifferentnumbers,crossingsarelabeledwithonlyone
number.Whenthecrossingisanovercrossing,apositivenumberislisted.Atanundercrossing,a
negativenumber.
Forexample,thetrefoilknotinGaussCodecanbegivenas:1,2,3,1,2,3
GaussCodeislimitedinitsabilitytoidentifyknotsbyafewproblems.Thestartingpointontheknotat
whichtobegintracingthecrossingsisarbitrary,andthereisnowaytodeterminewhichdirectionto
tracein.Also,GaussCodeisunabletoindicatethehandednessofeachcrossing,whichisnecessaryto
identifyaknotversusitsmirror.Forexample,theGaussCodeforthetrefoilknotdoesnotspecifyifitis
therighthandedorlefthandedtrefoil.
ThislastissueisoftensolvedwithExtendedGaussCode.Inthismodification,thepositive/negativesign
onthesecondinstanceofeverynumberischosentorepresentthehandednessofthatcrossing,rather
thantheover/undersignofthecrossing,whichismadeclearinthefirstinstanceofthenumber.Aright
handedcrossingisgivenapositivenumber,andalefthandedcrossingisgivenanegativenumber
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Seealso
Contactgeometry#Legendriansubmanifoldsandknots
Knotsandgraphs
Listofknottheorytopics
Molecularknot
Quantumtopology
Ribbontheory
NecktieTypesofknot

References
Adams,Colin(2004),TheKnotBook:AnElementaryIntroductiontotheMathematicalTheoryof
Knots,AmericanMathematicalSociety,ISBN0821836781
Adams,ColinHildebrand,MartinWeeks,Jeffrey(1991),"Hyperbolicinvariantsofknotsand
links",TransactionsoftheAmericanMathematicalSociety326(1):156,doi:10.1090/s0002
9947199109941612,JSTOR2001854
Akbulut,SelmanKing,HenryC.(1981),"Allknotsarealgebraic",Comm.Math.Helv.56(3):
339351,doi:10.1007/BF02566217
BarNatan,Dror(1995),"OntheVassilievknotinvariants",Topology34(2):423472,
doi:10.1016/00409383(95)932372
Collins,Graham(April2006),"ComputingwithQuantumKnots",ScientificAmerican294(4),
p.56,Bibcode:2006SciAm.294d..56C,doi:10.1038/scientificamerican040656
Conway,JohnHorton(1970),"Anenumerationofknotsandlinks,andsomeoftheiralgebraic
properties",ComputationalProblemsinAbstractAlgebra,Pergamon,pp.329358,
ISBN0080129757,OCLC322649
Doll,HelmutHoste,Jim(1991),"Atabulationoforientedlinks.Withmicrofichesupplement",
Math.Comp.57(196):747761,doi:10.1090/S00255718199110949464
Flapan,Erica(2000),"Whentopologymeetschemistry:Atopologicallookatmolecular
chirality",Outlooks(CambridgeUniversityPress),ISBN0521662540
Haefliger,Andr(1962),"Knotted(4k1)spheresin6kspace",AnnalsofMathematics.Second
Series75(3):452466,JSTOR1970208
Hass,Joel(1998),"Algorithmsforrecognizingknotsand3manifolds",Chaos,Solitonsand
Fractals(Elsevier)9(45):569581,arXiv:math/9712269,Bibcode:1998CSF.....9..569H,
doi:10.1016/S09600779(97)001094
Hoste,JimThistlethwaite,MorwenWeeks,Jeffrey(1998),"TheFirst1,701,935Knots",Math.
Intelligencer(Springer)20(4):3348,doi:10.1007/BF03025227
Hoste,Jim(2005),"Theenumerationandclassificationofknotsandlinks",HandbookofKnot
Theory(PDF),Amsterdam:Elsevier
Levine,Jerome(1965),"Aclassificationofdifferentiableknots",AnnalsofMathematics.Second
Series1982:1550,JSTOR1970561
Kontsevich,Maxim(1993),"Vassiliev'sknotinvariants",I.M.GelfandSeminar,Adv.Soviet
Math.,2(Providence,RI:Amer.Math.Soc.)16:137150
Lickorish,W.B.Raymond(1997),AnIntroductiontoKnotTheory,GraduateTextsin
Mathematics,SpringerVerlag,ISBN038798254X
Perko,Kenneth(1974),"Ontheclassificationofknots",ProceedingsoftheAmerican
MathematicalSociety45(2):2626,doi:10.2307/2040074,JSTOR2040074
Rolfsen,Dale(1976),KnotsandLinks,PublishorPerish,ISBN0914098160
Schubert,Horst(1949),"DieeindeutigeZerlegbarkeiteinesKnotensinPrimknoten",
HeidelbergerAkad.Wiss.Math.Nat.Kl.(3):57104
Silver,Dan(2006),"Knottheory'soddorigins"(PDF),AmericanScientist94(2),pp.158165,
doi:10.1511/2006.2.158
Simon,Jonathan(1986),"Topologicalchiralityofcertainmolecules",Topology25(2):229235,
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doi:10.1016/00409383(86)900418
Sossinsky,Alexei(2002),Knots,mathematicswithatwist,HarvardUniversityPress,ISBN0
674009444
Turaev,V.G.(1994),"Quantuminvariantsofknotsand3manifolds",DeGruyterStudiesin
Mathematics(Berlin:WalterdeGruyter&Co.)18,ISBN3110137046
Weisstein,EricW."ReducedKnotDiagram".MathWorld.Wolfram.Retrieved8May2013.
Weisstein,EricW."ReducibleCrossing".MathWorld.Wolfram.Retrieved8May2013.
Witten,Edward(1989),"QuantumfieldtheoryandtheJonespolynomial",Comm.Math.Phys.
121(3):351399,Bibcode:1989CMaPh.121..351W,doi:10.1007/BF01217730
Zeeman,E.C.(1963),"Unknottingcombinatorialballs",AnnalsofMathematics.SecondSeries78
(3):501526,doi:10.2307/1970538,JSTOR1970538
1.Levine,J.Orr,K(2000),"Asurveyofapplicationsofsurgerytoknotandlinktheory",SurveysonSurgery
Theory:PapersDedicatedtoC.T.C.Wall,Annalsofmathematicsstudies1,PrincetonUniversityPress,
ISBN0691049386,CiteSeerX:10.1.1.64.4359Anintroductoryarticletohighdimensionalknotsandlinks
fortheadvancedreaders
2.Ogasa,Eiji,Introductiontohighdimensionalknots,arXiv:1304.6053Anintroductoryarticletohigh
dimensionalknotsandlinksforthebeginners

Furtherreading
Introductorytextbooks
Thereareanumberofintroductionstoknottheory.Aclassicalintroductionforgraduatestudentsor
advancedundergraduatesisRolfsen(1976),giveninthereferences.Othergoodtextsfromthe
referencesareAdams(2001)andLickorish(1997).Adamsisinformalandaccessibleforthemostpart
tohighschoolers.Lickorishisarigorousintroductionforgraduatestudents,coveringanicemixof
classicalandmoderntopics.
Burde,GerhardZieschang,Heiner(1985),Knots,DeGruyterStudiesinMathematics5,Walter
deGruyter,ISBN3110086751
Crowell,RichardH.Fox,Ralph(1977).IntroductiontoKnotTheory.ISBN0387902724.
Kauffman,LouisH.(1987),OnKnots,ISBN0691084351
Kauffman,LouisH.(2013),KnotsandPhysics(4thed.),WorldScientific,ISBN9789814383
004

Surveys
Menasco,WilliamW.Thistlethwaite,Morwen,eds.(2005),HandbookofKnotTheory,Elsevier,
ISBN044451452X
MenascoandThistlethwaite'shandbooksurveysamixoftopicsrelevanttocurrentresearch
trendsinamanneraccessibletoadvancedundergraduatesbutofinteresttoprofessional
researchers.
Livio,Mario(2009),"Ch.8:UnreasonableEffectiveness?",IsGodaMathematician?,Simon&
Schuster,pp.203218,ISBN9780743294058

Externallinks
History
Thomson,SirWilliam(1867),"OnVortexAtoms",
ProceedingsoftheRoyalSocietyofEdinburghVI:94105
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_theory#Alexander.E2.80.93Briggs_notation

WikimediaCommonshas
mediarelatedtoKnot
theory.
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Lookupknottheoryin
Silliman,RobertH.(December1963),"WilliamThomson:
Wiktionary,thefree
SmokeRingsandNineteenthCenturyAtomism",Isis54
dictionary.
(4):461474,doi:10.1086/349764,JSTOR228151
Movie
(http://www.southalabama.edu/mathstat/personal_pages/silver/smoke%20rings.mpg)ofamodern
recreationofTait'ssmokeringexperiment
Historyofknottheory(http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~aar/knots)(onthehomepageofAndrew
Ranicki)

Knottablesandsoftware
KnotInfo:TableofKnotInvariantsandKnotTheoryResources
(http://www.indiana.edu/~knotinfo/)
"MainPage(http://katlas.math.toronto.edu/wiki/Main_Page)",TheKnotAtlas.detailedinfoon
individualknotsinknottables
KnotPlot(http://knotplot.com/)softwaretoinvestigategeometricpropertiesofknots
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