[en] It is expected that a large fraction of the total cost of the proposed Superconducting Supercollider will be spent on magnets, and, as Leon Lederman has remarked, ''most of the cost of making a magnet is in the ends.'' Among the mechanical problems to be solved there is the construction of an end-configuration for the superconducting cables which will minimize their strain energy. The purpose of this paper is to promote the use of differential geometry in this minimization. The use will be illustrated by a specific application to the winding of dipole ends. The cables are assumed to be clamped so firmly that their strain is not altered by Lorentz stresses. 15 refs