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The second fundamental form records the normal component of second-order bending of the surface. For a surface curve $\gamma (t)=\sigma (u(t),v(t))$, the terms containing $u^{\prime \prime }$ and $v^{\prime \prime }$ are tangent and thereforeThus on a unit tangent direction it gives the normal curvature; for a general coordinate direction the normal curvature is the ratio of the second to the first fundamental form. Equivalently the quadratic part of displacement out of the tangent plane is one half of this form. Reversing the chosen unit normal changes its sign.

Now suppose $L=M=N=0$. Differentiate $\mathbf{N}\cdot {\sigma }_u=\mathbf{N}\cdot {\sigma }_v=0$. This givesAlso differentiation of $\mathbf{N}\cdot \mathbf{N}=1$ gives ${\mathbf{N}}_u\cdot \mathbf{N}={\mathbf{N}}_v\cdot \mathbf{N}=0$. The parametrization is regular, so ${\sigma }_u,{\sigma }_v,\mathbf{N}$ form a basis of three-dimensional space. Both normal derivatives are orthogonal to this basis and hence vanish:The parameter ball is connected; integrating these derivatives along a straight segment between parameter points shows that $\mathbf{N}={\mathbf{N}}_0$ is constant. Finally both derivatives of $\sigma \cdot {\mathbf{N}}_0$ vanish, because ${\sigma }_u,{\sigma }_v$ are tangent. Thus the zero second fundamental form implies planar image statement isThe PDF has ${\mathbf{N}}_v$ in the second derivative equality; the apparent ${\mathbf{N}}_t$ in the TeX is not a distinct coordinate.