The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie
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Contents |
[edit] The Book
'The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie' is about the history of the knotted neckcloth, the modern necktie, and how to tie both. It is based on two mathematics papers published by the same authors in the journal Nature<ref>Fink, Thomas M., and Yong Mao (1999). "Designing tie knots by random walks". Nature 398: 31–32. DOI:10.1038/17938.</ref> and Physica D.[citation needed] The authors prove there are exactly 85 ways of tying a necktie and enumerate them. Of the 85, 13 stand out: the four traditional knots (the four-in-hand, Pratt, half-Windsor and Windsor) and nine others, which the authors name.
[edit] The Science
The discovery of all possible ways to tie a tie depends on a mathematical formulation of the act of tying a tie. In their papers (which are technical) and book (which is for the layman, apart from an appendix), the authors show that necktie knots are equivalent to persistent random walks on a triangular lattice, with some constraints on how the walks begin and end. Thus enumerating tie knots of n moves is equivalent to enumerating walks of n steps. Imposing the conditions of symmetry and balance reduces the 85 knots to 13 aesthetic ones.
[edit] Knots
The knots described in the book, in order of size, include (but are not limited to):
Nicky
[edit] Reviews
The book was reviewed in Nature,<ref>Buck, Gregory (2000). "Why not knot right?". Nature 403: 362. DOI:10.1038/35000270.</ref> The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, GQ, Physics World, and others.
[edit] References
<references />
[edit] External links
- Learn how to tie a necktie and bow tie with easy to follow video instruction.
- Theory of Tie Knots
- Ties and Knots at Thomas Fink's homepage
- ISBN
