Use the arc length coordinate oriented in the direction of increasing : , with . Also , giving and . The Lagrange identity for the cross product yields
The curvature of a space curve is therefore
For the forward portion , this has ordinary nonnegative arc length . If instead nonnegative distance is measured backwards from , put for ; that branch has , . Choosing orientation avoids confusing the two points at the same unoriented distance.
Differentiation gives . The squared speed is , so the arc length is
The speed never vanishes, so this is a regular curve throughout its parameter range.
For the Hurwitz proof of the planar isoperimetric inequality, take a positively oriented regular simple closed curve of length and enclosed area . Write its complex position as , with proportional to arc length. Then . Translate the curve to make its mean position zero, and write its Fourier coefficients as , with .
Green's theorem gives the signed area, and Parseval's identity computes it:
Periodic integration by parts and Parseval's identity applied to give
Since for every integer ,
The sums converge absolutely: . Equality forces unless or ; after the mean translation, is a circle. Conversely a circle attains equality. Thus circles uniquely attain equality, up to translation and orientation.
The same proof applies to a rectifiable simple closed curve using its Lipschitz arc length parametrization. Its derivative exists almost everywhere and belongs to ; periodic mollification converges to the curve in the function and derivative norms. This justifies the derivative coefficient identity, Parseval's identity and area integral by approximation. Reversing orientation, if necessary, makes the enclosed area positive. The printed name “Hurewitz” is read as Hurwitz.
For a regular curve parametrized by , put and orient arc length in the direction of increasing . Since , the unit tangent vector is
Regularity is the condition that permits division by .
Choose local coordinates on the hypersurface , and let be the local flow of the vector field . The map follows the integral curves of a vector field starting at . At , its differential maps the direction to and the remaining directions to a basis of . Transversality makes these vectors linearly independent, so the inverse function theorem makes a local manifold chart.
Set and transport the unchanged along each integral curve of a vector field. Then the adapted coordinates satisfy
The flow-box theorem gives this construction locally. The parameter is the flow parameter, and need not be arc length; a global manifold chart would require additional hypotheses.
Lift the angular coordinate continuously to a real coordinate and write and for a prescribed winding number . Assume for the calculation; reversing the endpoints changes no length. The arc length functional on the circular cylinder is
The Euler-Lagrange equation says is constant. This expression is strictly increasing in , so is constant. The candidate is the helix
It is a global minimum within the chosen winding class: the integrand is strictly convex, and Jensen inequality bounds the functional below by , with equality only for constant slope. Equivalently, unrolling the cylinder makes the minimizing path a straight segment.
The signed pitch of a helix, measured for an increase of in angle, is
Its geometric magnitude is . If only the physical endpoints are fixed, choose the integer minimizing ; opposite points may give two equally short helices. If the lifted endpoint angles are prescribed, use that winding class. A zero angular increment gives a straight generator, the limiting infinite-pitch case.
Let and choose an orientation of a regular curve following the vector field. Its unit tangent vector is , where is constant along a connected regular segment. Arc length differentiation along that curve is . Therefore
Taking the cross product with removes the term parallel to :
Where the Frenet frame exists, . Thus
The printed sign corresponds to orientation along or against the field. Taking magnitudes gives the orientation-independent curvature of an integral curve of a vector field, . This scalar formula also applies at zero curvature, where itself may be undefined.
Assume the holonomic constraints have linearly independent gradients, so their common level set is locally a smooth constraint manifold parametrized by . The multiplier form of the Euler-Lagrange equations is
At fixed time . The chain rule for the reduced Lagrangian gives
Conversely, if these reduced equations hold, the Cartesian Euler-Lagrange residual annihilates every tangent direction. Linear independence of the constraint gradients implies that it is a linear combination of those gradients, giving the required Lagrange multipliers. This proves the local equivalence, including time-dependent constraints; singular constraints would need separate analysis.
For the bead, , so
The autonomous conservation of energy gives . If , the motion has a fixed sign and
The integral is the signed arc length divided by the constant speed, and is locally invertible. The special solution is a stationary bead, for which writing time as a function of its unchanging position is not meaningful.
For a regular parameter , the curvature and torsion of a space curve are
The torsion of a space curve requires . Reparameterize by arc length and set , , . Differentiating the pairwise inner products of this orthonormal Frenet frame shows that its derivative matrix is skew symmetric. Since , defining gives the Frenet-Serret formulas
The fundamental theorem of regular space curves says that prescribed smooth and smooth on an interval determine a unit-speed curve uniquely up to an orientation-preserving Euclidean rigid motion. Solve this frame's linear differential equation with an initial oriented orthonormal frame, then integrate ; uniqueness proves the assertion.
Under the intended convention that the shared parameter is arc length, equality on an open interval gives equal position and equal Frenet frames at one point. Equal give identical differential equations, so uniqueness gives . The printed “regular smooth” hypothesis alone does not establish this convention. Without common arc length, an orientation-preserving smooth change of speed that is the identity on but not elsewhere reparameterizes a circle into a counterexample: both curves have , and agree on , but differ elsewhere as parameterized curves.
For an oriented surface with unit normal , define normal curvature and geodesic curvature . Thus
A unit-speed curve is a geodesic exactly when . If also , then , so it is a straight line. A vertical ruling of a circular cylinder is such a geodesic, although the cylinder contains no open piece of a plane. A nonconstant regular straight line cannot be a simple closed curve. Hence no planar patch is required, and such a geodesic cannot be simple and closed.
Finally let the principal curvatures be . If the Gaussian curvature , they have the same sign or one vanishes. Euler formula for normal curvature makes a weighted average of them. For a geodesic, , so
A horizontal circle on a cylinder of radius is a geodesic with , , , attaining equality.