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Every closed regular space curve has total curvature at least $2\pi$. Equality holds exactly for convex plane curves traversed once. Here curvature is unsigned and integration is with respect to arc length.

The Fenchel theorem states that every closed regular space curve has total curvature at least $2\pi$:Equality holds precisely for a convex plane curve, traversed once.

For $v\in T_{p}S$ sufficiently small, let ${\gamma }_v$ be the geodesic with ${\gamma }_v(0)=p$, ${\dot{\gamma }}_v(0)=v$, and define ${\exp }_p(v)={\gamma }_v(1)$. The domain consists more generally of initial velocities whose geodesic exists through time one. Uniqueness and affine rescaling give ${\exp }_p(tv)={\gamma }_v(t)$ near zero, soThus the differential is the identity under the natural identification of tangent spaces, and the inverse function theorem makes the exponential map a local diffeomorphism near zero.

A punctured plane has geodesics reaching its missing point in finite time, so its exponential map need not be global; adding the point remedies this example. But an extension cannot always remedy the failure. On the punctured circular cone $S=\{(r\cos \theta ,r\sin \theta ,r):r>0\}$, radial generators are geodesics and reach the missing point in finite intrinsic length. Any globally defined extension would have to include their limiting point $(0,0,0)$. The cone's tangent planes have different limits as $\theta$ varies; no smooth embedded surface through that point can contain this punctured circular cone. Hence no such extension exists for this $S$.

For an oriented surface and a closed topological disc $D$ with smooth positively oriented boundary, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem with boundary saysHere $k_g$ is signed geodesic curvature with the disc on the left. A smooth boundary has no corner terms; piecewise smooth boundaries require exterior-angle terms.

For the flat disc in the problem this gives ${\int }_{\partial D}{k}_{g}ds=2\pi$. Conditions (i) and (ii) mean that the proposed replacement disc has the same boundary and agrees with the original smooth surface from the outside. Smoothness therefore gives the same tangent planes, metric derivatives and boundary geodesic curvature on the replacement, with consistent orientation. Applying Gauss-Bonnet to that disc forcesThus these gluing conditions fix the total curvature of any smooth replacement disc, regardless of its detailed interior shape.

The nonnegative continuous Gaussian curvature on the compact replacement disc, together with its zero integral established by Gauss-Bonnet, forces it to vanish at every point of that disc. Outside it the replacement surface agrees with the original flat surface, so its curvature also vanishes there; smoothness covers the common boundary. Consequently no point of the replacement surface can have positive Gaussian curvature. Therefore no surface can satisfy all three conditions. A disc with some positive curvature could only have compensating negative curvature or alter the smooth boundary gluing, both excluded here.

For a regular curve, the curvature and torsion definition givesIt measures the rate at which the unit tangent turns per unit arclength.

HereThus $|{\gamma }^{\prime }|=3$, $|{\gamma }^{\prime \prime }|=4$, and ${\gamma }^{\prime }\cdot {\gamma }^{\prime \prime }=0$. HenceThe arc-length parametrization from $t=0$ is $s=3t$, so the curvature remains the constant $\kappa (s)=4/9$ for $0\le s\le 3\pi$. Therefore the total curvature is

The curve $\tilde{\gamma }$ is a unit circle traversed once. Its curvature is one and its length is $2\pi$, so without further calculationThe helical curve $\gamma$ devotes part of its unit tangent to the constant vertical direction. Its tangent therefore turns more slowly on the unit sphere than the tangent to the planar circle, which explains the smaller total curvature.

Fix the standard orientation of a vector space on the plane. For an oriented regular curve in that plane, let $T=(T_x,T_y)$ be its unit tangent vector and let $N_L=(-T_y,T_x)$ be its left unit normal, obtained by an anticlockwise rotation through $\pi /2$. Its signed curvature $k$, also commonly written ${\kappa }_s$, is defined byHere $s$ increases with the chosen traversal and $\det$ is the determinant. Positive signed curvature means turning left; negative signed curvature means turning right. The left unit normal exists even when $k=0$; when $k<0$ it points opposite to the principal normal vector. See Ghomi's university lecture notes, section 1.10.

For an arbitrary regular parametric curve $r(t)=(x(t),y(t))$ traversed with increasing $t$, the signed curvature isFor the anticlockwise circle $r(t)=(R\cos t,R\sin t)$, the numerator is $R^2$ and the denominator is $R^3$, so $k=1/R$. For the clockwise traversal $q(t)=(R\cos t,-R\sin t)$, the numerator is $-R^2$, so $k=-1/R$, while unsigned curvature is $1/R$ in both cases. On this circle $N_L$ points inward for anticlockwise traversal and outward for clockwise traversal. For any simple closed regular curve traversed anticlockwise, $N_L$ is the inward unit normal, but signed curvature can still be negative along nonconvex portions.

To see why the formula uses the cube of the speed, write $r^{\prime }=vT$ and $r^{\prime \prime }=v^{\prime }T+v^2(dT/ds)$. The term parallel to $T$ contributes zero to the determinant, giving $\det (r^{\prime },r^{\prime \prime })=v^3\det (T,dT/ds)=v^{3}k$. Under a reparametrization $q(u)=r(\varphi (u))$ with ${\varphi }^{\prime }\ne 0$, the numerator gains a factor $({\varphi }^{\prime }{)}^3$ and the denominator gains $|{\varphi }^{\prime }{|}^3$. Thus orientation-preserving reparametrization preserves signed curvature, while reversing traversal changes its sign at corresponding points. Unsigned curvature is preserved in either case.

Locally write the unit tangent vector as $T=(\cos \theta ,\sin \theta )$. Differentiating with respect to arc length gives $k=d\theta /ds$: signed curvature records the direction as well as the amount of turning. Its integral therefore measures net turning, as in the turning tangent theorem; the integral of $|k|$ is total curvature and counts both left and right turns positively.

If a regular plane curve has positive curvature $\kappa$ and a particle moves with speed $v=1/\kappa$ in the chosen time units, its elapsed time is $\int \kappa ds$, the total curvature traversed. On a logarithmic spiral $r=a{e}^{b\theta }$, both $ds/d\theta$ and $1/\kappa$ equal $r\sqrt{1+b^2}$. Hence $dt=d\theta$ and every complete turn takes time $2\pi$, regardless of its radius.