Neckties

Isn't it funny how many simple things can be made hard by just applying mathematics to the problem?

This time around it is the standard issue necktie. Thomas Fink and Yong Mao wrote an article for Nature about a mathematical model to calculate and classify all possible tie knots.

They found 85 different, and managed to easily predict which four were the ones in widespread use due to they symmetry etc.

Read the article and more on Theory of Tie Knots.