Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/ii/paper-1/26i/b/solution

A minimal surface can have a planar point, where . There , which fails the stipulated conformality condition . Thus minimality need not make the Gauss map conformal everywhere; a plane is the simplest counterexample.
Conversely, conformality gives . It permits either , which is minimal, or , which is umbilical and nonminimal. On a round sphere, the Gauss map is conformal while both principal curvatures are equal and nonzero. Thus conformality alone does not imply minimality.

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