Spring 2013 MTCA Workshop #2

Post date: Mar 7, 2013 4:04:27 PM

Knots and Coloring

Presented by

Dr. Brandy Doleshal

Sam Houston State University

Dr. Doleshal explained how to make a knot into a mathematical object, and then talked about ways of distinguishing knots, using coloring

and modular arithmetic. For example, a knot is called three-colorable, if the strands of the knot can be colored using exactly three colors

so that at each crossing, either all three strands are different colors or all are the same color. See if you can decide which of the knots in

the handout below are three-colorable.