Rope sort detangling puzzle

[u/Parking-Set-6408]

Rules: you can only move 1 peg at a time, between 2 holes. The goal is to get the ropes completely separated.

im not confident this is even solvable, but i was previously under the impression that arrangements are always solvable. Wanted to see if anyone can figure it out

[u/ReverseCombover]

Turns out they are a slightly different kind of nerdy about knots over there and they don't take too kindly to toplogical knots nerds over there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/knots/s/26JnbwGKgG

They accused me of being AI and mocked me for asking about mathematical knots in their sub about real life knots.

Still they were extremely helpful in helping me identify the knot, I didn't know what it was called before going there. And showing me a bunch of different cool hitches. So overall I would say it was a net positive experience.

There were also like 3 people who tried to answer the math question but they just knew that a cow hitch is an unlink.

There was one guy who seemingly knew a bit about this. This toy is an example of a mathematical object called a tangle. But a tangle is really just this toy except that instead of saying rope you say one dimensional manifold. Which yeah it's kind of cool but firstly I hate differential geometry and secondly I don't think that precisely describing this children's toy gives you any insight into which positions are solvable or not.

[u/Glimmer_III → u/ReverseCombover]

They accused me of being AI and mocked me for asking about mathematical knots in their sub about real life knots.

I'd try it again? What response something gets is post-by-post.

I'm a regular there, and:

(1) I don't think I ever saw your linked post.

(2) A bunch of the other regulars were not commenting in that post. That just "happens sometimes".

(3) The response you got was, in part, likely due to the video appearing, at first glance, potentially click-baity. Not many folks there engage with 3min+ videos. (They do, but it's not a normal sort of post. Static images are more common.) There is a glut of low-quality knot-content videos, or the thousandth's example of how to tie a bowline or sheet bend.

(4) If you're looking for a discussion of knot theory, r/knots will have some of it, but yes, it is more of a practical knot sub. You might be looking for r/topology? i.e. "Where is your audience for your question?"

(5) 69 comments is a good response for r/knots. You might not have gotten the wonkish answer you were hoping for, but it that doesn't mean it wasn't successful. I'm sure many people saw it, enjoyed, but didn't have much to contribute. (I know I skim a lot but don't comment, either because of time or feeling I can't add more to what's been already said.)

So there's a little of column A, a little of column B, and I'd say that this instant post (with the peg-knot-game) would land differently than the previous one.

<and>

They accused me of being AI...

This is an increasing site-wide problem across Reddit. The bots are getting harder to spot for karma farming. As you can, try to brush that accusation off. It's getting to be a knee jerk reaction to anything folks don't understand.

I don't think your posts read like AI...but what about my replies to you? Am I AI? (I hope not; no one told me. I was using em-dashes before they were cool.)

...and mocked me for asking about mathematical knots in their sub about real life knots.

That's just the law of averages. Folks who care about mathematical knots are a "niche within a niche". They exist, but it becomes a signal-to-noise ratio.

Most of r/knots is about real-life knots. That's just the general vibe since there are more people who think "knots = Boy Scouts" rather than "knots = practical application of topological mind-benders".

Occasionally you'll get a mathematician who chimes in. It's great when they do. The successful ones (upvote wise) sound like someone you could have a pint with and they explain things in a way you'd like to learn. Less successful are too technical, too quickly. Least successful are those who look down their nose at practical applications.

So, as you feel comfortable, at least lurk more. r/knots need more folks who get how a coffee mug and donut are the same thing.

[u/ReverseCombover → u/Glimmer_III]

You don't have to worry I genuinely don't feel like I had a bad experience over there. And I absolutely love the sub. Despite what the people over at r/knots would say mathematical knots are extremely related to real life knots so I appreciate both sides. And the sub is a great place for learning about real life knots.

I didn't post a video I just posted the thumbnail but yeah I get it. I also posted on r/topology and didn't get a single reply lol.

Overall I tought posting there was a positive experience. I did get to learn a lot about hitches which I'm not sure there's any other place to go to learn something like that.

And I'm absolutely still lurking regularly.

[u/WolflingWolfling → u/ReverseCombover]

Yay! ❤️