Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-geometry-of-surfaces-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/3/a/solution

For a regular parametric surface , its tangent vectors are linearly independent. The first fundamental form is the induced inner product on the tangent plane, written
It measures squared lengths and angles; its determinant satisfies . Choose the unit normal
The second fundamental form, with shape operator , is
The subscript distinguishes the coefficient from a genus or a Riemannian metric. In these coordinates the shape operator has matrix , so the Gaussian curvature, the product of its two principal curvatures, is
Reversing reverses and both principal curvatures, leaving the Gaussian curvature unchanged.

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