linking number
Curve intertwining count
Linking number is a topological quantity in mathematics that measures how many times two closed curves wind around each other in three-dimensional space.
If you imagine two intertwined loops, the linking number counts their entanglement—it remains constant unless one curve passes through the other.
The concept appears in knot theory, DNA topology, and fluid dynamics: The linking number of the two DNA strands determines supercoiling.
- twistRotating motion or surprise
- knotTied rope fastening
- topologyStudy of spatial arrangement
- windingCurving repeatedly, sinuous
- helixSpiraling three-dimensional curve
DNA · genetic code · molecular biology · tangle · tangled up · interlock · braid · coil · twisted pair · strand · double helix · enzyme · crossing · invariant · curve · loop · entanglement · unwinding
- algebraic topologyhomology, exactness
- Knot Theoryunknot, figure-eight knot, braid, genus, writhe
- DNA topologytwist, writhe, toroid, nick, cruciform
- Invariantsgenus, homology, signature, connectedness, compactness
- Braid Theorystrand, full twist, crossing