Braids vs. Self-Distributive Systems
Patrick Dehornoy · Birkhäuser Basel eBooks · 2000
This chapter gives a quick introduction to our main subject, namely the connection between braids and self-distributive operations. Our presentation is based on the concrete idea of colouring the strands of a braid, and left selfdistributivity arises as a natural compatibility condition. At this early stage, some of the constructions may look artificial or strange: it will be one of the aims of the subsequent chapters, in particular in Part B of this book, to explain them and hopefully make all of them natural. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.