Reidemeister's theorem using transversality

Abstract

We recover Reidemeister's theorem using smooth functions and transversality.

My goal here was to give an easily readable proof for the Reidemeister theorem based on transversality techniques. I hope it can prove useful when learning or teaching knot theory, or as a gentle introduction to the use of transversality for knots and knotted surfaces. The paper will appear in the Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society