Reidemeister torsion
Okay, so imagine you have a really long, twisty string. If you just take one end of the string and twist it, it might end up looking different than if you twisted both ends at the same time, right?
Well, Reidemeister torsion is kind of like this idea, but with shapes instead of strings. Imagine you have a shape that can twist and turn around in different ways, like a piece of spaghetti. Reidemeister torsion is a way to measure how much the shape changes when you twist it around in different ways.
It's kind of like if you had a toy with a bunch of different pieces, and you could twist them around to make different shapes. Reidemeister torsion is a way to figure out how much the shape changes if you twist one part of the toy but not another.
This might sound a bit complicated, but basically Reidemeister torsion is just a way to look at how different parts of a shape are connected to each other and how they move around. It's used a lot in math and science to study all kinds of different things, from the structure of DNA to the behavior of subatomic particles.
Well, Reidemeister torsion is kind of like this idea, but with shapes instead of strings. Imagine you have a shape that can twist and turn around in different ways, like a piece of spaghetti. Reidemeister torsion is a way to measure how much the shape changes when you twist it around in different ways.
It's kind of like if you had a toy with a bunch of different pieces, and you could twist them around to make different shapes. Reidemeister torsion is a way to figure out how much the shape changes if you twist one part of the toy but not another.
This might sound a bit complicated, but basically Reidemeister torsion is just a way to look at how different parts of a shape are connected to each other and how they move around. It's used a lot in math and science to study all kinds of different things, from the structure of DNA to the behavior of subatomic particles.