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A new polynomial invariant of knots and links. (English) Zbl 0572.57002
This note introduces a polynomial which extends both the Alexander-Conway and Jones invariants of links. The new invariant was discovered independently and almost simultaneously by four groups; an outline of each approach is given after a statement of the common result. (Yet another approach has been found by J. Przytycki and P. Traczyk, Univ. Warsaw, 1985.) The main theorem asserts that there is a unique homogeneous 3-variable Laurent polynomial invariant of isotopy classes of tame oriented links which satisfies a Conway identity and which takes the values 1 on the unknot.
Reviewer: J.Hillman

##### MSC:
 57M25 Knots and links in the $$3$$-sphere (MSC2010)
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##### References:
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