2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/68260We present a simple combinatorial method to encode 3-dimensional manifolds, based on their Heegaard diagrams. The notion of a Gauss diagram of a 3-manifold is introduced. We check the conditions for a Gauss diagram to represent a closed manifold and a manifold with boundary.23 pages, 19 figures; to appear in JKTRGeometric Topology57N10, 57M27text