Knot a Problem

jedishrfu

Interesting article from SciAm on transforming a rubberband into a trefoil knot and how math in the knot world of zero thickness says no but the real world says yes.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...band-into-knot

micromass

Very cool video!!

However, using a knife to cut the band is a bit cheating, so it becomes a bit less impressive Still cool though.

jedishrfu

True, I liked the thinking outside the box even though we knew this trick from the mobius strip. I also liked how he compared the real to the math to show how one allows it but the other doesn't.

Number Nine

That's not strictly true. The math allows for a torus to be made into a trefoil knot, which is what he did. It's a lesson in choosing mathematical models carefully. Still, it was a very cool video; I think I'll make one for myself.