Just think about the accumulation of so much particular points that it seems that UK English, Canada English, USA English, Australian English seems at times four different languages!
Not easy to be "international" for you born to one of the
English-English based language but think about us
"foreigners"!
At times I find Middle-English easier that following the
particularities of USA or Canada or Australia.
Knots (mathematician's, diagrams or real ones) are
topological and geometric
entities and as
such the words used to speak about operations on them that modify their
geometry
should be very strictly defined and the use of words every
day
meaning
SHOULD BE
AVOIDED as much as
possible in a technical discussion.
A highly 'guarded' or surveyed language is a compulsory condition if any ambiguity or even plain non-sense are to be avoided.
Euclidean transformations preserve LENGTH (linear dimensions) and ANGLES so the shape will not change ; only its POSITION and ORIENTATION will.
Note that either the geometric object is transformed or it is the coordinate system which is. This is about transformation of the geometric object itself.
We will deal with the 2D, plane projection of knots and with the real life 3D knots.
First some depiction of some image manipulation.2D or PLANE
Transform ident | In 2D plane before | After | remark |
SCALING | ( x , y ) | ( x.sf , y.sf ) | sf : scaling factor this is how you get SIMILAR |
TRANSLATION | ( x , y ) | ( x+tf(x) , y+tf(y) ) | tf : :translation factor, just a displacement without resizing. Accept SIMILAR |
BACK view | ( x , y ) | (- x , y ) it is left-to right or (x , -y ) in second case it is upside-down change | tail and SPart are as in
the 'original' vector but it is the "other side" that is now the
'obverse' side. A 'reverse' with its own name. |
REVERSE | ( x , y ) | ( -x , y ) or (x , -y) | tail and SPart are
interchanged from the disposition in the original It is coming back following the course previously followed. |
INVERSE | ( x , y ) | ( -x ,- y ) | On a plane it cannot be differentiated from REVERSE |
MIRROR | ( x , y ) | ( -x , y ) or ( x , -y) | depending on the axis used. Inversion of DEPTH ( -x or - y) only |
IDENTICAL | ( x , y ) | (x' , y' ) ( x+n , y+m ) | either in another set of
coordinates with unchanged units or without changing the set of coordinate and using translation.for instance ( no resizing occur) |
SAME | ( x , y ) | ( x , y ) | set of coordinates are unique in both case so same apply only to 'original' |
ROTATION | ( x , y ) | ((x.cos alpha-y.sin alpha), (y.cos alpha-x.sin alpha)) | alpha : angle of rotation - Accept SIMILAR |
Transformation ident | In 3D before | After | Remark |
SCALING | ( x , y , z ) | ( x.sf , y.sf , z.sf ) | sf : scaling factor this is how you get SIMILAR |
TRANSLATION | ( x , y , z ) | ( x+tf(x) , y+(tf(y) , z+(tf(z) ) | tf : :translation factor, just a displacement without resizing. Accept SIMILAR |
BACK view | ( x , y , z ) | ( -x , y , -z ) or ( -x , -y , z ) or ( x , -y , -z ) |
tail and SPart are as in
the 'original' Changing only 2 axis so as to view "the other side". A 'reverse' with its own name. |
REVERSE | ( x , y , z ) | ( -x , y , -z ) or ( -x , y , -z) or ( x , -y , -z) |
tail and SPart are interchanged from the disposition in the original. It is turning back the way that was previously followed. Changing 2 axis |
INVERSE | ( x , y , z ) | ( -x ,- y ,- z ) | Changing all three axis at once |
MIRROR | ( x , y , z ) | ( -x , y , z ) or ( x , -y , z ) or ( x , y ,- z ) | depending on the plane used. It is inversion of DEPTH ( -x or -y or -z ) only |
IDENTICAL | ( x , y , z ) | ( x + constant , y + constant , z + constant ) | either in another set of coordinates with unchanged units or without changing the set of coordinate and using translation for instance ( no resizing occur) |
SAME | ( x , y , z ) | ( x , y , z ) | set of coordinates are unique in both case so same apply only to 'original' |
ROTATION | ( x , y , z ) | ( x.cos alpha -y sin alpha , x.sin alpha+ y.cos alpha, z ) | alpha : angle of rotation
- Here I will stay on rotation about the Z axis "around" it, the knot
diagram being on the x, y plane and Z axis being perpendicular to it. x.cos alpha -y sin alpha , x.sin alpha+ y.cos alpha, z |
REVERSE looks to me very ambiguous in its every day use.
It
can means :
- 'back view'
or
- it can means turned backward like 'ab' being 'ba' or as in 'reverse
gear',
- it can mean 'in an opposite manner'.
It can be use as 'opposite or contrary',
or
even "the back of.."
So please do no use 'REVERSE' about knots if not
applying the
meaning of
the
geometric transformation. [ (x, y, (z))
becoming (-x, y, (-z)) ]
That will makes for a clearer discourse.
Better not use REVERSE about knot except
with this meaning :
in an
opposite orientation SPart/WEnd and keeping the crossing where and of
what
nature they were in the 'original'.
In particular it is highly faulty
IMO to
use REVERSE to mean MIRROR as Ashley and many of his followers
were,
and still are not
shy to do.
Flip a real 'in the rope' knot and you get a real back view of it, Flip
a 'representation' of it,however precise it can be, and you will only
get the equivalent of 'mirror' : imagine drawing your knot on
a piece
of transparent glass and flipping the glass, that is equivalent in
result to the flip on the screen of you computer.
In real 'in the rope', to reverse , actually reverse a knot, is to revert it to an unknotted piece of cordage.
The 'reverse' of an oriented knot ( from SPart toward WEnd ) is simply a knot positioned elsewhere ( not same knot please !) with unchanged crossings but with the 'opposite' orientation of SPart / WEnd.
It is mentally leaving the knot unchanged in its crossings and exchanging the WEnd for the SPart and conversely or vice versa.
When in a knot the WEnd is made to follow on a parallel course
the 'first laid' it is obviously not making a
'reverse'
but making a 'rethread' , so making another sort
of
knot.
This is true too when you put the WEnd in a "slipped"
fashion.
Reversion is also meaning right-to-left reversion of
an image.
So as a
plane mirror never put left where right is and vice
versa reverse cannot be use in place of mirror
without using a faulty wording.
INVERT : in every day language the word may be understood as 'turning it inside out', like what can be done with a glove or as 'putting it upside down' as with a glass.
Speaking about knot INVERSION should be strictly restricted to what was exposed above.(x, y , (z)) becoming (-x, -y, (-z))
I put there an illustration in coordinates of an inversion.
As for the 'inverse' of a knot it is :
- first a 'reverse'
- then
reflection/mirror
image of this reverse.
So INVERSE = REVERSE + MIRROR
INVERSE is REVERSE ( exchanging the WEnd
function for an SPart
one and
vice versa ) PLUS changing the nature of each crossing ( a High
/ Over becomes
a Low/Under and vice versa)
So please be careful with 'same', 'reverse', 'inverse', 'mirror', 'similar', 'identical', 'comparable'....
When 'inverse' is applied in conjunction with a rotation, it becomes an 'improper rotation' in geometry parlance.
I prefer not to dwell on 'invagination' or 'eversion' that are in use in my trade.
MIRROR IMAGE or REFLECTION : please use it to mean that for the image the sign of one and only one of its coordinate is reversed. ( see topic Mirror does not invert..)
MIRROR is not equivalent to REVERSE.
Two
ways to get the mirror image :
either flipping the tracing and keeping the crossings as they are in
the original
or keeping the tracing as it is in the original but changing the sign
of the crossing, reversing
the crossing BUT THAT DOES NOT MAKE A MIRROR
A REVERSE !
ROTATION + INVERSION = ROTATION + REVERSE + MIRROR
SHIFT
A translation ( a sliding move ) without
rotation or distortion
TRANSLATION
A transformation consisting of a constant offset with no rotation or
distortion.
In a N-dimensional Euclidean space, a translation may be specified
simply as
a vector
giving the offset in each of the coordinates axis
TURN
Turn = a change in the course previously followed.
HALF-TURN
A rotation through 180 degrees (pi radians).
A turn along the x axis ( remember how I dispose the
3 axes) is an horizontal flip for
a software or back to front
plus
upside-down in every day life. This can be conceived
as a 'reverse' too.
A turn along the y axis is a vertical flip for a software or a back to front in every day life.
A turn along the z axis is a upside-down in every day life. Problem is that it is too used to mean 'inverted' and 'inverse' is take to mean 'opposite' just as reverse' means 'opposite or contrary' in every day language.
Necessity should be clearly seen by now of an agreed upon ( not thinking that it is what I write that must be agreed upon !) guarded , well defined, common language when speaking about those geometric entities that knots are.
DILATATION = EXPANSION + TRANSLATIONThis is a SIMILARITY transformation : each line is transformed in a parallel line whose length is obtained by multiplying it by a fixed positive factor multiple of the original
A dilatation with expansion equal to one is simply a translation.
Of course you can do a dilatation with a null translation , it will be a dilatation about a central point, hence its name of 'central dilatation'.
A point that make disputes : similarity vs sameness
Falling into the temptation to say that either similar or identical objects are " the same" is falling into a logical fallacy : if there are 2 objects then logically they are differently spatially localized things and you may not use 'same' which refer to a unique individual.
If a particular knot,
is submitted
to
translation,
rotation,, in an Euclidean plane or space it will be admitted,
for the
sake of every day practicality,
that it is "the same" though logically it is
not.
BUT if you leave the 'original' in position and create
a 'copy'
of it ,even
if absolutely perfect in any point then it seems better to say
"identical" or if scaling intervened to say "similar".
Just as a 'clone' is not the 'same' individual as the original which
has been duplicated, however perfectly.
Usage of 'Same' should be strictly reserved to cases when
it apply to 'one
unique'
individual and
NEVER if there is more than one individual object/knot which
are
referred to by
the discourse.
'Same' almost never apply.
Frequencies are in favour
of 'identical' or 'similar' as the adapted word.
If you are loath to use them take a short cut and though
this is logically faulty ( they
are indeed separable in the adjective
applying to them ) use "indistinguishable" one
from the other.
Guarded word comes first and its every day equivalent is in ( )
ROTATION ( TURN )
REFLECTION ( FLIP )
TRANSLATION ( SLIDE )
When one apply any of those operation or a
combination of
thereof to a shape this
shape may become another one, in which case the 2 shapes are by
'construction' :
"CONGRUENT" but if you apply RESIZE then these 2
shapes
are
SIMILAR
AMPHICH(E)IRAL : this is when a knot ( an object in
the
general case ) is
fully
'reflexible'
- note that it is not 'reversible' - It means that it can be
superposed
to its virtual
image in a plane mirror.
Rather not use 'Handedness' which should strictly be
restricted
to living
creatures
having hands.
Handedness a psycho-motor attribute about
preference for
which side of the body
to put to use.
Instead of handedness, in the other case ( e.g : sea
shell, or
migration off the eye in
flat 'bottom fishes") just use "Z" /"S" or
"Indirect ( that is clockwise)" /
"Direct or
Trigonometric" rotation or migration....
Amphicheireal is used to convey that 2
things would be identical
EXCEPT (which
mean that in fact, logically, they
are not identical at all !) for a mirror
reflection.
For cordage use "Z" and "S" and nothing else ( be shy
of
left/right, avoid the dangerously ambiguous
'clockwise/counter-clockwise' and never use the all too often
misunderstood " with/against the sun).
About knots, "
left" or
"right", can be tolerated if you are absolutely sure that you
are
not introducing an
occasion
for misunderstanding through ambiguity of discourse.
Or use the signing
of
crossings or "Z" / "S".
CHIRAL : that is absence of mirror-symmetry between 2 forms .
Left trefoil and Right trefoil are mirror image one of the other.
( a parte : two 'molecules'' that are mirror image one of
the
other are what
is called :
'enantiomers' or 'enantiomorph
; Note a wee bit of detail : our biology can
only safely
use L-form and not D-form)'.
This notion could be adapted to the knotting world
IMO )
Enantiomères/enantiomers are
stéréo-isomères/stereo-isomers as it
is
the
spatial
arrangement of the identical unit constituents ( global
chemical
formula is
the same
in both case) that
make the molecule one or the other.
You may use levogyre and dextrogyre for enantiomers.
Sea shells
too are lévogyre or dextrogyre in the sense that they spiral
one way or another.
Human cells can only function with proteins that are
'lévogyres'/levorotary, that is are
turning polarized light
toward the left.
A dextrorotary molecule can be highly damaging to us while its levorotary mirror image is not ( THALIDOMIDE for sad example).
I feel that it is inadvisable to say that 'leftrotary, is counter-clockwise turn', a topic will deal with problems about why.
A mix in equal proportions in both orientations is
said to be
'racémique'
/ racemate.
( This comes from Louis Pasteur study of acide
racémique which
contain both enantiomers
and so does not deflect polarized light)
A parting shoot to fix notions in memories :
Does one
can say
that "Z" and
"S" laid cordages are cordages enantiomers!
Beware ANY knots can be, by altering some of its crossings ( not only a
geometric
transformation but a knotting transformation too!) , made
into a
'null knot' , that could
be quite inconvenient to say the least if you
make
inadvertently such a change..Be attentive.