The New Scientist reports that a non-existent film inspired mathematicians to find 177,147 method to tie a tie.
In 1999, Thomas Fink and Yong Mao of the University of Cambridge published a mathematical language describing tie knots ... to show that only 85 knots were possible.
Now mathematician Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, has vastly broadened the tie landscape.
[Fink and Mao's formal language theory] ... described the process of tying a knot as a sequence of motions between the left, centre and right of the chest, moving the tie either away or towards the chest. Vejdemo-Johansson's team realised they could just describe moves as windings either clockwise or anticlockwise around the passive end of the tie, plus a tuck move. This freed them up to include much more elaborate ties.
They also changed an important rule: the limit to how many winding moves you can make before your tie gets embarrassingly short. Fink and Mao placed the limit at 8 for classical ties, but Vejdemo-Johansson's team chose 11 instead, as that is how many the Eldredge knot needs. Counting up all the possible windings and tucks before you hit this limit gives a total of 177,147 different tie knots.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Horse With Stripes on Tuesday July 08 2014, @07:51PM
Dear Misters Fink, Mao and Vejdemo-Johansson,
Get a life, mm'kay?
Sincerely,
Everyone
(Score: 5, Informative) by cafebabe on Tuesday July 08 2014, @07:56PM
The moderators vastly improved my summary for this story and didn't take credit. My summary was quite poor but I only wrote it while researching loom bands [soylentnews.org].
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(Score: 1) by azrael on Tuesday July 08 2014, @08:41PM
Those loom bands!!! How many different ways can you tie them?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by cafebabe on Tuesday July 08 2014, @09:11PM
For b bands, I presume there is a practical subset of b! ways to tie them. Therefore, in a packet of 300 loom bands, the number of permutations may exceed the number of atoms in the known universe.
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(Score: 1) by arslan on Wednesday July 09 2014, @03:56AM
Awesome! We should mandate that every summary must have an xkcd link...
(Score: 3, Informative) by lgsoynews on Tuesday July 08 2014, @07:59PM
Well, I have trouble enough remembering the ONE knot that I know... Shame :-)
I remember having once had to ask a coworker to help me with the knot when going to a customer, because I didn't remember how it was done. So he helped me do it while on the train, to the amusement of the few people around...
That being said, I've only worn a tie about a dozen times in my whole life, which doesn't give many reasons to learn other knots. (I wear a shirt but never a tie, except during job interviews)
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Tuesday July 08 2014, @08:19PM
I had to wear a tie at school. However, I found a lazy option with an adjustable knot that could be removed and worn again without retying. So, for the last two years or so, I didn't tie a tie.
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(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Tuesday July 08 2014, @09:02PM
It's really quite easy, even for the more complex (and better looking knots), it just takes a bit of practice. They're silly things in general, but sometimes one must 'blend in'. My female-unit is a big fan of me dressed up as well, and I gather this is common with many women. So, in the great words of NPH: "Suit up!".
(Score: 3, Interesting) by cafebabe on Tuesday July 08 2014, @09:30PM
NPH? Neil Patrick Harris? Is he gay?
Ignoring that, I understand the sentiment. http://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/20120427/reasons_why_guys_are_scared_of_pinterest_118.jpg [acidcow.com] found via http://acidcow.com/pics/31924-things-girls-share-on-pinterest-125.html [acidcow.com] states that "A well tailored suit is to women what lingerie is to men."
I presume that a suit indicates factors important to women, such as status, affluence and intelligence. Being able to tie a tie is part of this intelligence. Presuming a greater variance of intelligence among men due to genetics, some men would struggle with elements of male grooming, such as ties.
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(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Tuesday July 08 2014, @09:38PM
He is gay, but pulls off an 'alpha-male-ish' character very well. Things have changed with the suit, in general probably, but I would guess that it will be in indicator of wealth/taste for a few generation more at least. The suit itself hasn't really changed that much in quite a long time.
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday July 09 2014, @12:22AM
my first computer tech job had a tie requirement... which was stupid, we weren't customer facing and they kept getting caught in CPU fans whenever we leaned over a pc. they wouldn't even supply us with company branded tie clips. was not impressed. fortunately every job since had been more relaxed.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday July 08 2014, @08:03PM
Which way to I tie my tie to get chicks? Was that in the study?
*forever alone*
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 08 2014, @08:16PM
use this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_knot [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by richtopia on Tuesday July 08 2014, @08:30PM
I appreciate the Windsor, however I prefer the Pratt myself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_knot [wikipedia.org]
Just anything but the Half Windsor.
(Score: 2) by elf on Tuesday July 08 2014, @08:30PM
How many of these are practicable? I'd love to see a slideshow of the final state of each one, there must be some truly hilarious ones.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday July 08 2014, @08:49PM
You want to see a slideshow with over 100k slides? I'd rather wait until several people go through them and weed out the duds.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by APK on Wednesday July 09 2014, @01:41PM
Sorry to bug you here, but I took your advice on my feature request (which you seem to be in agreement with AND BETTER YET, YOU have the ability to actually implement it too) & couldn't do it -> http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2790&cid=66500 [soylentnews.org]
APK
P.S.=> Thanks for assist TMB... apk
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit -> http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=585
(Score: 2) by present_arms on Tuesday July 08 2014, @08:50PM
I didn't find a slide show, but I did find a Python script click PDF and scroll to near the last page :) [arxiv.org]
http://trinity.mypclinuxos.com/
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:00AM
From the abstract there:
"We show that the relaxed tie knot description language that comprehensively describes these extended tie knot classes is either context sensitive or context free."
Isn't that true of any language?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Tuesday July 08 2014, @10:50PM
http://tieknots.johanssons.org/ties.html [johanssons.org] generates random permutations. I hope someone tries them for a week and report back to us. They might look like a fool but they might look quite dapper.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @02:12AM
In my random search of a half dozen or so, it looks like a third of them end with the tie closing up, rather than down. I'm not sure if one is meant to tuck the loose end into a hat band or let it fall loosely over the knot, but either one sound pretty ridiculous. I suspect this is why mathematicians don't get invited to the cool kids' parties.
(Score: 2) by Blackmoore on Tuesday July 08 2014, @09:01PM
I know tie-fu!
(Score: 1) by middlemen on Tuesday July 08 2014, @09:31PM
Don't you mean tie-chi
(Score: 2) by e_armadillo on Tuesday July 08 2014, @09:49PM
This made me think of Keanu Reeves as a mathematician. My head nearly assploded . . .
"How are we gonna get out of here?" ... "We'll dig our way out!" ... "No, no, dig UP stupid!"
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Wednesday July 09 2014, @08:00AM
Didn't you see "The Day the Earth Stood Still (Remake)" Where he demonstrated his extensive understanding of mathematics!?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Tuesday July 08 2014, @10:17PM
Cuz I feel like I'm wearing one on the few instances I have to wear a tie.
Relationship status: Available for curbside pickup.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 08 2014, @11:15PM
xkcd is a pedantic pile of poop.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday July 09 2014, @03:23AM
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday July 09 2014, @01:59PM
Randall has gotten pretty smug and pedantic lately. I'm waiting for him to come back around.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"