Paper 2, Section II, G
Part II, 2016
If an embedded surface contains a line , show that the Gaussian curvature is non-positive at each point of . Give an example where the Gaussian curvature is zero at each point of .
Consider the helicoid given as the image of in under the map
What is the image of the corresponding Gauss map? Show that the Gaussian curvature at a point is given by , and hence is strictly negative everywhere. Show moreover that there is a line in passing through any point of .
[General results concerning the first and second fundamental forms on an oriented embedded surface and the Gauss map may be used without proof in this question.]