Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/ib/paper-2/11f/b/solution

For an oriented regular surface with unit normal , the Gauss map sends each point to . The outward normal to the catenoid is
Its image is the open southern hemisphere, apart from its limiting equator and south pole. The Gauss map is one-to-one after taking modulo and reverses orientation. Since the Jacobian of the Gauss map is the Gaussian curvature, its signed spherical area is the total Gaussian curvature:
Equivalently, , whose integral over and is .

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