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Reidemeister's Theorem

Topology

Reidemeister's Theorem states that two diagrams of a knot or link represent the same knot or link up to ambient isotopy if and only if one diagram can be transformed into the other by a finite sequence of three local moves, now called the Reidemeister moves. Named for Kurt Reidemeister, it is the foundational combinatorial result of knot theory, reducing questions about continuous deformation of knots in three-dimensional space to purely diagrammatic, finite calculations.

Facts
Statement
Two knot diagrams belonging to the same knot, up to planar isotopy, can be related by a sequence of the three Reidemeister moves. 1
Proof Year
1927 1
Classification
Statement Form
Characterization Theorem 1
Connections

Has Statement Form

In Branch

Source Reidemeister move (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Reidemeister move (Wikipedia)
  • Lead section
    two knot diagrams belonging to the same knot, up to planar isotopy, can be related by a sequence of the three Reidemeister moves
  • Lead section
    Kurt Reidemeister (1927) and, independently, James Waddell Alexander and Garland Baird Briggs (1926), demonstrated that two knot diagrams belonging to the same knot, up to planar isotopy, can be related by a sequence of the three Reidemeister moves.
  • In Group: Geometric and Differential Topology, Article text
    In the mathematical area of knot theory, a Reidemeister move is any of three local moves on a link diagram.
  • In Branch: Knot Theory, Lead sentence
    In the mathematical area of knot theory, a Reidemeister move is any of three local moves on a link diagram.
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