Punctured Torus Groups and 2-Bridge Knot Groups (I)

Here is the first part of a work that provides a full account of Jorgensen's theory of punctured torus Kleinian groups and its generalization. It offers an elementary and self-contained description of Jorgensen's theory with a complete proof. Through various informative illustrations, readers are naturally led to an intuitive, synthetic grasp of the theory, which clarifies how a very simple fuchsian group evolves into complicated Kleinian groups.