Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 15 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the ambient Levi-Civita connection and the one for the induced metric on . The Gauss formula iswhere the second fundamental form is normal. The tangential part of is metric-compatible and torsion-free, so the existence and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection identifies it with .
For a normal field , the Weingarten formula defines the shape operator in a normal direction and the normal connection byDifferentiate using metric compatibility to getThe symmetry of the second fundamental form follows from the ambient torsion-free condition:since the Lie bracket of vector fields tangent to is tangent. Thereforeso every normal-direction shape operator is self-adjoint.
The paper uses , so use the Gauss equation with reversed curvature convention. Applying the Gauss formula and Weingarten formula twice givesSubtracting in the stated curvature order yieldsPair with a tangent field and use the defining relation for the shape operator in a normal direction:This is the Gauss equation in the supplied sign convention. If one defines curvature by instead, the two quadratic terms have the opposite signs.
For an orthonormal frame on a surface, positive Gaussian curvature with the convention here is . If the ambient space is Euclidean and is a unit normal, the equation becomesThe Koszul formula determines from the induced metric, and hence determines its Riemann curvature tensor and . Therefore the Gaussian curvature depends only on that metric, even though its expression as a product of principal curvatures appears extrinsic. This is Theorema Egregium.