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Supercoiled Tangles and Stick Numbers of 2-bridge Links (1308.0709v1)
Published 3 Aug 2013 in math.GT
Abstract: Utilizing both twisting and writhing, we construct integral tangles with few sticks, leading to an efficient method for constructing polygonal 2-bridge links. Let L be a two bridge link with crossing number c, stick number s, and n tangles. It is shown that s is less than or equal to 2/3 c + 2n+3 . We also show that if c > 12n+3, then minimal stick representatives do not admit minimal crossing projections.