Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / ib / Paper 4 / 15F / a / Solution

Write derivatives with respect to $u$. The arc-length condition is $f^{\prime 2}+g^{\prime 2}=1$. The tangent vectors areTheir scalar products give the first fundamental formChoose the unit normal vector $N=(-g^{\prime }\cos v,-g^{\prime }\sin v,f^{\prime })$, since ${\sigma }_u\times {\sigma }_v=fN$ and $f>0$. Scalar products of $N$ with the second partial derivatives giveThe mixed coefficient is zero. Reversing $N$ reverses the second fundamental form but not the Gaussian curvature. Its formula isDifferentiating the arc-length identity gives $f^{\prime }{f}^{\prime \prime }+g^{\prime }{g}^{\prime \prime }=0$. Substitute it directly, without dividing by $g^{\prime }$ (which may vanish), to obtain