Julia Courtney, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Julia Courtney
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
To Knot or to Unknot?
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Knot theory is an active area of research in low-dimensional topology, much of which centers on a deceptively simple question: how do we tell knots apart? In this talk, we will represent knots using two-dimensional diagrams and explore the tools used to study and compare them. We will introduce key ideas such as Reidemeister moves and crossing number to distinguish knot diagrams, as well as the unknotting number to measure how difficult a knot is to untangle. These seemingly simple questions lead to rich problems that mathematicians are still actively investigating today.
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