The Official Mystery Knot Appreciation Page

I am interested in both the limitations and vast potential of the human mind. How many of you are able to look at this loop and determine if it is a knot? (I discuss this problem in my book The Mobius Strip.) I would assume that over 99% of the people on Earth could not make such a determination simply by looking. Am I way off in my estimate? Even if you cannot tell simply by looking if this is a knot or not a knot, do you think an autistic savant could tell?

For my survey, please tell me Here if you either can or cannot tell if this is a knot. What method did you attempt to use? Also, let me know if you know of any human who can tell, simply by looking. What kind of person could tell?

I'm not interested in whether this is or is not a knot -- but I am interested if humans can tell simply by looking. Do you think IQ, gender, age, or anything else correlates with the ability to decipher the mystery knot? When you post, perhaps you can tell us a little about yourself and whether your friends could determine if this is a knot, just by looking.

If you consider this to be equivalent to a simple loop, like a circle (with no crossings), then we call this "not a knot."


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