Trefoil | |
---|---|
Common name | Overhand knot |
Arf invariant | 1 |
Braid length | 3 |
Braid no. | 2 |
Bridge no. | 2 |
Crosscap no. | 1 |
Crossing no. | 3 |
Genus | 1 |
Hyperbolic volume | 0 |
Stick no. | 6 |
Tunnel no. | 1 |
Unknotting no. | 1 |
Conway notation | [3] |
A-B notation | 31 |
Dowker notation | 4, 6, 2 |
Last /Next | 01 / 41 |
Other | |
alternating, torus, fibered, pretzel, prime, slice, reversible, tricolorable, twist |
In topology, a branch of mathematics, the trefoil knot is the simplest example of a nontrivial knot. The trefoil can be obtained by joining together the two loose ends of a common overhand knot, resulting in a knotted loop. As the simplest knot, the trefoil is fundamental to the study of mathematical knot theory.
The trefoil knot is named after the three-leaf clover (or trefoil) plant.
The trefoil knot can be defined as the curve obtained from the following parametric equations:
The (2,3)-torus knot is also a trefoil knot. The following parametric equations give a (2,3)-torus knot lying on torus :
Any continuous deformation of the curve above is also considered a trefoil knot. Specifically, any curve isotopic to a trefoil knot is also considered to be a trefoil. In addition, the mirror image of a trefoil knot is also considered to be a trefoil. In topology and knot theory, the trefoil is usually defined using a knot diagram instead of an explicit parametric equation.
In algebraic geometry, the trefoil can also be obtained as the intersection in C2 of the unit 3-sphere S3 with the complex plane curve of zeroes of the complex polynomial z2 + w3 (a cuspidal cubic).