Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 105 / 3 / b / i / Solution

Locally write the real analytic hypersurface as $\Sigma =\{F=0\}$ with $dF\ne 0$. The conormal bundle is spanned by $dF$. The surface is a characteristic hypersurface at $p$ precisely when the principal symbol vanishes on that conormal:Only the matrix $(a_{ij}+a_{ji})/2$, which is a symmetric matrix, contributes to this expression.