Wild knot

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In the mathematical theory of knots, a knot is tame if it can be "thickened up", that is, if there exists an extension to an embedding of the solid torus S ¹ × D ² into the 3-sphere. A knot is tame if and only it can be represented as a finite closed polygonal chain. Knots that are not tame are called wild and can have pathological behavior. In knot theory and 3-manifold theory, often the adjective "tame" is omitted. Smooth knots, for example, are always tame.

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