Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / ii / Paper 3 / 25I / a / Solution

The first fundamental form of an embedded surface $S\subseteq {\mathbb{R}}^3$ is the inner product induced on each tangent plane:For a tangent vector field $V$ along a curve $\alpha$, its surface covariant derivative isthe tangential projection of its ordinary derivative. A curve is a geodesic when

A local isometry preserves the first fundamental form, so its Christoffel symbols and Levi--Civita covariant derivatives satisfyTaking $V={\alpha }^{\prime }$ shows that if $\alpha$ is geodesic, then $\varphi \circ \alpha$ is geodesic.

The converse is false. The dilationmaps every affinely parametrized straight-line geodesic to another such geodesic, butso it does not preserve the first fundamental form. This is the geodesic-preserving homothety that is not a local isometry.

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.