Paper 4, Section II, G

Geometry | Part IB, 2009

Let U⊂R2U \subset \mathbb{R}^{2} be an open set. Let Σ⊂R3\Sigma \subset \mathbb{R}^{3} be a surface locally given as the graph of an infinitely-differentiable function f:U→Rf: U \rightarrow \mathbb{R}. Compute the Gaussian curvature of Σ\Sigma in terms of ff.

Deduce that if Σ^⊂R3\widehat{\Sigma} \subset \mathbb{R}^{3} is a compact surface without boundary, its Gaussian curvature is not everywhere negative.

Give, with brief justification, a compact surface Σ^⊂R3\widehat{\Sigma} \subset \mathbb{R}^{3} without boundary whose Gaussian curvature must change sign.

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