Knots

This book is an introduction to classical knot theory. Topics covered include: different constructions of knots, knot diagrams, knot groups, fibred knots, characterisation of torus knots, prime decomposition of knots, cyclic coverings and Alexander polynomials and modules together with the free differential calculus, braids, branched coverings and knots, Montesinos links, representations of knot groups, surgery of 3-manifolds and knots, Jones and HOMFLYPT polynomials. Knot theory has expanded enormously since the first edition of this book published in 1985. In this third completely revised and extended edition a chapter about bridge number and companionship of knots has been added. The book contains many figures and some tables of invariants of knots. This comprehensive account is an indispensable reference source for anyone interested in both classical and modern knot theory. Most of the topics considered in the book are developed in detail; only the main properties of fundamental groups, covering spaces and some basic results of combinatorial group theory are assumed to be known. The text is accessible to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics.