Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford / 2017 / Prelims / Mathematics IV resit / 3 / a / i / Solution

At a regular point of the parametrized surface, the partial derivatives ${\mathbf{r}}_s$ and ${\mathbf{r}}_t$ are linearly independent tangent vectors. Their cross product gives a nonzero normal vector:Dividing by its Euclidean norm gives a unit normal; changing the sign chooses the opposite orientation. If the cross product vanishes, this parametrization is singular there and cannot determine a normal vector by this formula.