177,147 Ways to Tie a Tie?!

Swedish mathematician Mikael Vejedemo-Johansson has calculated that there are 177,147 ways to tie a necktie.

Although Cambridge University researchers claimed in 1999 that only 85 knots were possible, their study made two assumptions that Vejedemo-Johansson chose to relax when he tackled the enumeration problem.

Vejedemo-Johansson was inspired to look into the tie tying possibilities by the movie The Matrix Reloaded, in which the villain's tie sports an unusual knot.

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