WRITHE

Writhe

In knot theory, there are several competing notions of the quantity writhe, or Wr. In one sense, it is purely a property of an oriented link diagram and assumes integer values. In another sense, it is a quantity that describes the amount of "coiling" of a mathematical knot in three-dimensional space and assumes real numbers as values. In both cases, writhe is a geometric quantity, meaning that while deforming a curve in such a way that does not change its topology, one may still change its writhe.

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writhe

Noun

  1. The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot

Verb

  1. To twist, to wring (something).
  2. To contort (a part of the body).
  3. To twist or contort the body; to be distorted.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: writhe
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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