[math-fun] tightening knots

I've posted before about knots are really machines and should be analysed as such. This idea turns out not to be new. Here is a paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.1723 with computer simulations of knots trying to find the "tightest" form of each knot type. You can see movies of the tightening process for many knots & links here: http://www.jasoncantarella.com/movs/ Many questions suggest themselves... -- Warren D. Smith http://RangeVoting.org