Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / iii / Paper 115 / 4 / b / Solution

For $v$ near $0\in T_{p}M$, let ${\gamma }_v$ be the unique geodesic with ${\gamma }_v(0)=p$ and ${\dot{\gamma }}_v(0)=v$. The exponential map is ${\exp }_p(v)={\gamma }_v(1)$.

The constant initial velocity $0$ gives ${\exp }_p(0)=p$. Varying the initial velocity through $sv$ yields ${\exp }_p(sv)={\gamma }_v(s)$, soThus $(d{\exp }_p{)}_0$ is the identity. The inverse function theorem makes ${\exp }_p$ a diffeomorphism from a neighborhood of $0$ onto a neighborhood of $p$. Coordinates from an orthonormal basis of $T_{p}M$ are the geodesic normal coordinates.