A Simple Way To Measure Knots Has Come Unraveled

TLDR

Mathematicians disproved a century-old conjecture on knot unknotting numbers, revealing the unpredictability and complexity of knot theory.

A long-standing conjecture in knot theory has been disproven. The 'unknotting number' is not additive. Researchers found that a (2, 7) torus knot (unknotting number 3) plus its mirror (3) can be unknotted in 5 steps, not the predicted 6.