Joint Graduate Student Colloquium

Patrick Naylor, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo

"Is any knot not the unknot?"

Ever wanted to learn something about knots? This is your chance! We'll talk about some basics of knot theory, including how to prove some intuitively `obvious' but mathematically tricky results. Along the way, we'll see knot coloring invariants, polynomial invariants, and more. We'll even show how to produce a knotted surface: a sphere ($S^2$) in $\mathbb{R}^4$ that is `knotted'. This talk will be very accessible and will include many cool pictures.

MC 4040