silberspur, 17 days ago

@mina I like this!
Maybe someone should try out to bake a Moebius strip cake.😉

mina, 17 days ago

@silberspur

Together with a good beer from Klein's bottle.

mina, 17 days ago

There is a field in the area of topology, called "knot theory" which deals with, surprise(!), knots.

Mathematical knots are usually not like the ones you make with your shoe laces, but made from closed loops.

As a cunning observer, you might have already noticed:

2/5

mina, 17 days ago

The pretzels aren't knots in that sense. They are in fact a part of the "trefoil knot".

One of the first questions we ask in knot theory is:

Can any given knot be untangled (transformed into a doughnut-like knot) without ripping it apart?

Spoiler: no

3/5

mina, 17 days ago (edited 17 days ago)

We know a great deal about which kind of knots can be transformed into other ones, but many questions in knot theory remain unsolved.

Strangely enough, these problems matter in areas as diverse as physics, cryptology, DNA and protein folding etc - a whole rabbit hole, but:

We won't go down there. Let's go back to square 1: The doughnut (or bagel), which knot theorists call by the very cool name "unknot".

So: What have we learned so far?

4/5

mina, 17 days ago

If you want to appear like a total jerk, enter your favourite bakery and ask for a dozen unknots.

But imagine, how much more fun school math could have been, if they had taught you about knot theory.

5/5

mina, 17 days ago

6/5

The truth is: Most mathematicians don't like the "serious" applications, your teachers told you about.

They just want to play (and eat doughnuts).

HistoPol, 17 days ago

@mina

Fun fact tbd:

how does the median weight of mathematicians compare to the rest of their countries' populations then? 😉

mina, 17 days ago

@HistoPol

This is a matter, we don't discuss with outsiders.

HistoPol, 17 days ago

@mina

Yes, but I needed to weigh in on the matter! 🤣

EricHorwath, 15 days ago

@mina funfact: the foundation of today's knot theory was done by Lord Kelvin. He created an initial table of prime knots with the motivation to establish the first periodic table of elements, because he and many others believed at that time that an atom was a vortex in the aether.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_theory_of_the_atom

mina, 15 days ago

@EricHorwath

That's fascinating!

I didn't know that.

prokrastinix, 17 days ago

@mina I always liked the idea of donuts 🍩 being topologically the same as coffee mugs ☕️

But to be fair that’s about the point where my enthusiasm for knot theory ended.

number6, 17 days ago

@prokrastinix @mina

Yep. Especially since we dunk donuts into coffee cups, and not the other way around.

Unless of course you're clumsy.

markuswerle, 7 days ago

@number6 @prokrastinix @mina challenge accepted.

markuswerle, 7 days ago

@number6 @prokrastinix @mina Phew! I needed 5 consecutive prompts.

image/jpeg

number6, 7 days ago

@markuswerle @prokrastinix @mina

Those cups are more standing than dunking. My prompt still didn't get what I wanted, but close.

mina, 6 days ago

@number6

I'm thinking of doing a classical montage, later or a pencil drawing.

@markuswerle @prokrastinix