Determining Knots by Minimizing Energy

A new method for determining knots to construct polynomial curves is presented. At each data point, a quadric curve which passes three consecutive points is constructed. The knots for constructing the quadric curve are determined by minimizing the internal strain energy, which can be regarded as a function of the angle. The function of the angle is expanded as a Taylor series with two terms, then the two knot intervals between the three consecutive points are defined by linear expression. Between the two consecutive points, there are two knot intervals, and the combination of the two knot intervals is used to define the final knot interval. A comparison of the new method with several existing methods is included.