Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/ib/paper-3/2g/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ib Paper 3 2G Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Set . The two tangent vectors to the Enneper surface areTheir cross product is . Since , its length is , proving regularity and giving the unit normalFor the first fundamental form, direct dot products give and . The second derivatives are , , and . Taking their dot products with gives the second fundamental form coefficients , , . Therefore the Gaussian curvature isHere curvature means Gaussian curvature; the opposite signs of the second-form diagonal entries also give zero mean curvature, as expected for this minimal surface.
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