Graduate Student

Event Information What is this talk about? Knot theory. Oh good, I hate theory
18:10 on Thursday October 18, 2018
19:00 on Thursday October 18, 2018
BA6183, Bahen Center, 40 St. George St.
Jesse Frohlich

University of Toronto

A knot is an embedding of the circle into $\mathbb{R}^3$, considered up to deformations you would expect of normal knots (made with rubber bands (but infinitely stretchy (okay, maybe "normal" is the wrong word (but still)))). If you were given two knots, could you deform one into another? If the answer were always yes, you wouldn't be reading this. We will explore a few interesting properties knots possess, and how to distinguish them using linear algebra, differential geometry, algebraic topology, and a whole lot more. Or less. I don't have that much time.