On comparing the writhe of a smooth curve to the writhe of an inscribed polygon

2002/02/22 by Jason Cantarella, Cantarella, Jason
Computer Science · Mathematics · #65D18 (secondary) #65D30 (primary) #Differential Geometry (math.DG) #FOS: Mathematics #Numerical Analysis (math.NA) #cs.NA #math.DG #math.NA #msc:65D18 #msc:65D30

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.math/0202236

published as SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 42 (2005) 1846-1861 · 16 pages, 5 figures

arxiv created 2002/02/22 · arxiv updated 2026/08/03

Abstract

We find bounds on the difference between the writhing number of a smooth curve, and the writhing number of a polygon inscribed within. The proof is based on an extension of Fuller's difference of writhe formula to the case of polygonal curves. The results establish error bounds useful in the computation of writhe.

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