Quasigroups and quandles (Q686310)

A quasigroup \((Q,.,\setminus,/)\) is a set \(Q\) equipped with three binary operations \(.,\setminus,/\) such that (1) \((x/y).y = x\), \((x.y)/y = x\), (2) \(x.(x\setminus y) = y\), \(x\setminus(x.y) = y\). A right quasigroup \((Q,.,/)\) is a set \(Q\) with two binary operations \(.,/\) satisfying (1). A right quasigroup fulfilling \(x.x = x\) and \((x.y).z = (x.z).(y.z)\) is called a quandle. The purpose of this paper is to establish two connections between quasigroups and quandles. In the first part, Joyce's representation of quandles as coset classes is shown to yield a quasigroup isotopic to the loop constructed by Scimemi on the set of \(\phi\)-commutators of a group automorphism \(\phi\). In the second part, a standard construction from quasigroup theory, the universal multiplication group, is carried over to quandle theory in order to give a concrete interpretation to a group that Joyce defined abstractly in terms of generators and relations. The group of a knot becomes the universal right multiplication group of the knot quandle.