Abstract

Geometric invariants are basic tools for geometric processing and computer vision. In this paper, we give a linear approximation for the differentiation of the binormal vector field of a space curve by using the forward and backward differences of discrete binormal vectors. Two kind of discrete torsion, say, back-ward torsion <TEX>$T_b$</TEX> and forward torsion <TEX>$T_f$</TEX> can be defined by the dot product of the (backward and forward) discrete differentiation of binormal vectors that are linear approximations of torsion. Using Frenet formula and Taylor series expansion, we give error estimations for the discrete torsions. We also give numerical tests for a curve. Notably the average of <TEX>$T_b$</TEX> and <TEX>$T_f$</TEX> looks more stable in errors.