The boundary of the convex hull of a compact algebraic curve
in real
3-space defines a real algebraic surface. For general curves, that
boundary surface is reducible, consisting of tritangent planes and a
scroll of stationary bisecants. In recent work with Sturmfels we extend
classical formulas to express the degree of this surface in terms of
the degree, genus and singularities of the curve. For rational
curves
we present methods for computing their defining polynomials, and
exhibit a range of examples.
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