Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 56 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For every member of the geodesic variation, proper time normalization gives . By metric compatibility, the geodesic equation, and ,The last equality uses normalization across the whole variation, not merely constancy along one curve. Hence is constant along each timelike geodesic, provingThis is orthogonality of proper-time deviation vectors.