Borromean rings
Borromean rings are a three-components knot that used to be the coat-of-arms of the Borromean family (here you can see the knot from another point of view). By cutting the three rings in a particular way, we get a common braid with three threads. It is quite common to find sculptures that look like Borromean rings, but differ from them because some crossings have been switched. the knots that can be obtained in this way are many. See the interactive animation Borromean and non-Borromean rings to understand the difference.
This image has been realized with the computer program KnotPlot.
© matematita
The image belongs to the sections...:
Images from the topology section (From the exhibitions of matematita)
Three or more components knots (Topology)
Braids (Topology)
Further information:
http://www.pims.math.ca/knotplot/
