Telling Knots Apart: Knots and Knot Invariants

This Wednesday at 5:30 in LGRT 1634 Tobias Wilson will present “Telling Knots Apart: Knots and Knot Invariants.” Come listen and stay warm! We will have pizza and soda with the talk.

Abstract:

We will define knots to be exactly what you’d think they should be and then consider one of the big questions of knot theory: many knots that look different turn out to be equivalent. With the help of pipe-cleaner models, we’ll develop some knot invariants, culminating in the HOMFLY polynomial. This talk will be completely accessible to students at any level.