The anti-conjecture to unknotting additivity

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Let KK and K′K^\prime be knots, let u(K)u(K) denote unknotting number, and call KK and K′K^\prime symbionts when

u(K#K′)<u(K)+u(K′).u(K\#K^\prime)<u(K)+u(K^\prime).

Anti-conjecture to the Unknotting Additivity Conjecture. For every non-trivial knot KK, there is a symbiont knot K′K^\prime for which

u(K#K′)<u(K)+u(K′).u(K\#K^\prime)<u(K)+u(K^\prime).

That is, every non-trivial knot KK has a connected sum for which the Unknotting Additivity Conjecture is false. This proposal is motivated by examples of knots with symbionts and by the suggestion that, asymptotically, most knots may contain 313_1 or 414_1 in a minimal unknotting sequence. No resolution is supplied in the source.

References

Primary source

Mark Brittenham and Susan Hermiller, “Unknotting number and connected sums: The knots 4_1 and 5_1”, arXiv:2601.18757 (2026).

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