Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / ib / Paper 1 / 2F (Geometry)

In local coordinates $u=(u^1,u^2)$ with metric $g_{ij}={\partial }_i\sigma \cdot {\partial }_j\sigma$, the energy isThe Euler–Lagrange equations are equivalentlywhere ${\Gamma }_{ij}^k=\frac{1}{2}{g}^{k\ell }({\partial }_i{g}_{j\ell }+{\partial }_j{g}_{i\ell }-{\partial }_{\ell }{g}_{ij})$.

For the plane-section curve $\eta$, constant speed gives ${\eta }^{\prime \prime }\perp {\eta }^{\prime }$. Both ${\eta }^{\prime \prime }$ and the surface normal lie in $P$, while $P$ is spanned by ${\eta }^{\prime }$ and that normal along the intersection. Hence ${\eta }^{\prime \prime }$ is normal to the surface. Its tangential acceleration vanishes, which is the geodesic equation.