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Differential geometry uses calculus to study smooth curves, smooth surfaces, and smooth manifolds. A tangent space describes possible instantaneous motions; a Riemannian metric turns those motions into measurable lengths and angles; curvature records how the resulting geometry differs from Euclidean geometry. Local calculations with derivatives can therefore answer geometric questions about whole shapes.

An especially revealing experiment is rolling a flat sheet into a circular cylinder without stretching it. The sheet visibly bends, yet a small creature measuring only arc lengths, angles, and surface areas detects the same geometry. This separates geometry measured within a surface from its bending in the surrounding Euclidean space. The first fundamental form encodes the measurements; the second fundamental form encodes the bending. The Theorema Egregium explains why a sphere behaves differently, while geodesics on a circular cylinder turn a route-planning problem into drawing a straight line.

Rolling a sheet into a circular cylinder bends it without changing its internal lengths and angles. Fitting that same sheet smoothly onto a sphere requires distortion of its first fundamental form. Gaussian curvature distinguishes these situations: it measures the intrinsic curvature of a smooth surface, even though its simplest definition uses how the surface bends in Euclidean space.

The Gaussian curvature at a point is the determinant of the shape operator, or the product of the two principal curvatures:Here $I=Ed{u}^2+2Fdudv+Gd{v}^2$ is the first fundamental form and $II=ed{u}^2+2fdudv+gd{v}^2$ is the second fundamental form, with $S=-dN$. Regularity makes $EG-F^2>0$. Reversing the unit normal negates $e,f,g$ and both principal curvatures, leaving Gaussian curvature unchanged. ^[ref]

The sign describes bending at the point: positive Gaussian curvature means the principal curvatures have the same nonzero sign, as at an elliptic point; negative Gaussian curvature means opposite signs, as on a saddle; zero Gaussian curvature means at least one principal curvature vanishes. Zero Gaussian curvature at a single point does not imply that a neighborhood is a plane. ^[ref]

Four worked models make the signs concrete:

The patches use a common length unit, with $R=1$ for the sphere and circular cylinder. The marked red and blue curves have principal directions at the black point; the arrow is the chosen unit normal. For physical lengths, principal curvature and mean curvature have units of inverse length, while Gaussian curvature has units of inverse squared length. Rescaling a surface by $\lambda >0$ divides its principal curvatures by $\lambda$ and its Gaussian curvature by ${\lambda }^2$. Writing the saddle as $h=(x^2-y^2)/(2L)$ restores an explicit length scale: $K(0)=-1/L^2$.

The Theorema Egregium says that Gaussian curvature depends only on the first fundamental form and its first two coordinate derivatives. A local isometry therefore preserves Gaussian curvature, even if the shape operator and the principal curvatures change. ^[ref]

Here is the outline, rather than a full proof. The Gauss formula splits second derivatives of a parametric surface into tangential Christoffel symbols and the second fundamental form. The Christoffel symbols are determined by the first fundamental form and its first derivatives. Commuting the next partial derivatives gives the Gauss equation, which identifies $\det S$ with the intrinsic sectional curvature computed from the Riemann curvature tensor. Thus the apparently extrinsic product $k_1{k}_2$ is determined by the Riemannian metric. ^[ref]

One can see the distinction directly by rolling a plane strip with coordinates $(u,v)$ into the circular cylinder $X(u,v)=(R\cos (u/R),R\sin (u/R),v)$. Both have $I=d{u}^2+d{v}^2$, so the map is a local isometry, and is one-to-one on an open strip of width less than $2\pi R$. Extending $u$ over all real numbers wraps around periodically; it does not give a global isometry between the entire plane and the entire circular cylinder. A nonempty open patch of a sphere cannot be flattened by a local isometry into a plane, because its Gaussian curvature $1/R^2$ cannot become zero. The obstruction concerns preservation of the first fundamental form, rather than a particular drawing or choice of seam.

Let $D$ be the ambient Levi-Civita connection and $\nabla$ the one for the induced metric on $M$. The Gauss formula iswhere the second fundamental form $II(X,Y)=(D_{X}Y{)}^{\perp }$ is normal. The tangential part of $D$ is metric-compatible and torsion-free, so the existence and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection identifies it with $\nabla$.

For a normal field $\xi$, the Weingarten formula defines the shape operator in a normal direction $A_{\xi }$ and the normal connection byDifferentiate $⟨\xi ,Y⟩=0$ 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 $M$ is tangent. Thereforeso every normal-direction shape operator is self-adjoint.

The paper uses $R(X,Y)=D_{[X,Y]}-[D_X,D_Y]$, 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 $W$ 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 $[D_X,D_Y]-D_{[X,Y]}$ instead, the two quadratic terms have the opposite signs.

For an orthonormal frame $X,Y$ on a surface, positive Gaussian curvature with the convention here is $K=⟨R^M(X,Y)X,Y⟩$. If the ambient space is Euclidean and $\xi$ is a unit normal, the equation becomesThe Koszul formula determines $\nabla$ from the induced metric, and hence determines its Riemann curvature tensor and $K$. 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.

For an oriented surface with unit normal $N$, the Gauss map sends $p$ to $N(p)\in S^2$. The shape operator is $-dN$ on the tangent plane; its eigenvalues are the principal curvatures $k_1,k_2$. The Gaussian curvature is $K=k_1{k}_2$ and the mean curvature is $H=(k_1+k_2)/2$. Reversing orientation reverses both principal curvatures and $H$, but preserves $K$. The Theorema Egregium says that Gaussian curvature is determined by the first fundamental form, so is invariant under local isometries.

The Theorema Egregium states that the Gaussian curvature of a surface in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ is determined entirely by its first fundamental form; in particular a local isometry preserves it.

Let $r(u^1,u^2)$ be a regular parametrization, $g_{ij}=r_i\cdot r_j$, $n$ a unit normal, and $b_{ij}=r_{ij}\cdot n$ the second fundamental form. Differentiating the metric and decomposing $r_{ij}$ into tangent and normal parts gives the Gauss formulaDifferentiating $n\cdot r_j=0$ gives $n_i=-b_i{}^k{r}_k$, the Weingarten formula. Compute two successive ambient derivatives of a tangent vector and subtract them. Ambient derivatives commute, so their tangential parts yield the Gauss equationwhere $S$ is the shape operator and $R(X,Y)Z={\nabla }_X{\nabla }_{Y}Z-{\nabla }_Y{\nabla }_{X}Z-{\nabla }_{[X,Y]}Z$ is the intrinsic curvature of the connection with the displayed Christoffel symbols. Taking $X={\partial }_1,Y={\partial }_2,Z={\partial }_2$ and the inner product with ${\partial }_1$ givesBut $K=\det S=\det (b)/\det (g)$, soBoth the connection and its curvature on the right are computed from $g$ and its derivatives alone. This proves the theorem, rather than merely using its name as a substitute for the argument.

The Theorema Egregium states that Gaussian curvature is determined by the first fundamental form, and therefore preserved by local isometries. For a local surface parametrization $r$, write $g_{ij}=r_i\cdot r_j$, choose a unit normal $N$, and set $b_{ij}=r_{ij}\cdot N$. Decomposing the second derivatives into tangent and normal parts givesCommute the third partial derivatives of $r$ and take tangent components. The terms involving derivatives of $b$ are normal; the tangent terms give the Gauss equationwhere $R$ is computed from derivatives and products of the displayed Christoffel symbols, using $R(X,Y)Z={\nabla }_X{\nabla }_{Y}Z-{\nabla }_Y{\nabla }_{X}Z-{\nabla }_{[X,Y]}Z$. For example the tangent term from differentiating $b_{ij}N$ is $-b_{ij}{b}_k{}^{\ell }{r}_{\ell }$, which produces exactly the difference of the two products on the right. ConsequentlyThe last expression depends only on $g$ and its derivatives. Pulling back $g$ under a local isometry therefore preserves $K$, proving the theorem.

For a local parametrization $\varphi (u,v)$, write the first fundamental form and second fundamental form asThe Gaussian curvature is

To prove the Theorema Egregium, set $g_{ij}=⟨{\varphi }_i,{\varphi }_j⟩$ and decomposeDifferentiating $g_{ij}$ and solving for the tangential coefficients givesso every Christoffel symbol depends only on $E,F,G$ and their first derivatives. Equality of mixed third derivatives yields the Gauss equationThe Riemann curvature tensor is formed from first derivatives and quadratic products of the Christoffel symbols, and hence from the first and second derivatives of $E,F,G$. Consequentlydepends only on the first fundamental form.

For a chosen unit normal field $N$, the second fundamental form isIn a local parametrization $\varphi$, its coefficients, up to the equivalent simultaneous sign convention, areThe Gaussian curvature is the determinant of the shape operator, henceTheorema Egregium states that $K$ is determined entirely by the first fundamental form. In particular, it is intrinsic and is preserved by every local isometry.

The Gaussian curvature $K$ is the determinant of the shape operator, equivalently the product of the two principal curvatures. Yes,This is the Theorema Egregium: Gaussian curvature depends only on the first fundamental form, which a local isometry preserves.

Gauss's Theorema Egregium expresses Gaussian curvature intrinsically from the first fundamental form, hence $K\circ \varphi =K$. Merely preserving curvature level sets is not sufficient: when $K$ is constant, every diffeomorphism does so, though most are not isometries.