We propose a finite-dimensional variational principle on triangulated 3-manifolds so that its critical points are related to solutions to Thurstons gluing equation and Hakens normal surface equation. The action functional is the volume.

We give a finite presentation for the braid twist group of a decorated surface. If the decorated surface arises from a triangulated marked surface without punctures, we obtain a finite presentation for the spherical twist group of the associated 3-Calabi–Yau triangulated category. The motivation/application is that the result will be used to show that the (principal component of) space of stability conditions on the 3-Calabi–Yau category is simply connected in the sequel [King and Qiu, Invent. Math., to appear].

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We prove the factoriality of a nodal hypersurface in P4 of degree d that has at most 2(d ¡ 1)2=3 singular points, and we prove the factoriality of a double cover of P3 branched over a nodal surface of degree 2r having less than (2r ¡ 1)r singular points.

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