For a while there in grad school I thought I would do a thesis in knot theory. I didn’t, ultimately. I do better in problems that I can set a computer to, and then start thinking about once it has teased some interesting phenomenon out of simulations. But the affection, at least from me towards knot theory, remains. In the Fall 2018 A-to-Z sequence I got to share several subjects from this field. One of them is the Yamada Polynomial, a polynomial-like construct that lets us describe knots. I don’t know how anyone might not find that a fascinating prospect, even if they aren’t good at making the polynomials themselves.
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