For 
a given knot
in 
, choose a Seifert
surface 
in 
for 
and a bicollar ![M^^×[-1,1]](/images/equations/SeifertForm/Inline6.svg)
in 
. If 
is represented by a 1-cycle in 
, let 
denote the homology cycle carried by 
in the bicollar. Similarly, let 
denote 
. The function 
defined by
 |
where lk denotes the linking number, is called a Seifert form for 
.
