Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / ii / Paper 3 / 25G / b / Solution

A plane has both principal curvatures zero, hence $K=H=0$. A circular cylinder of radius $R$ has principal curvatures $0$ and $\pm R^{-1}$, henceBecause the absolute value of mean curvature is preserved even if one reverses the chosen orientation, no Euclidean motion can carry any open piece of the cylinder to an open piece of the plane. Thus the condition $K\equiv 0$ does not characterize planar pieces.

There are analogous examples for both signs of constant Gaussian curvature. Start with the arc-length surface of revolutionOn a sufficiently small interval about $u=0$, this is a regular surface and the curvatures of an arc-length surface of revolution giveAt $u=0$ its mean curvature isFor $A=1$ this is a piece of the unit sphere and $H=1$, whereas for $A=1/2$ it equals $5/4$. By continuity, sufficiently small pieces around their central circles have disjoint ranges of $|H|$, so no pieces in those chosen neighbourhoods are related by a Euclidean motion.

For curvature minus one, useagain on a sufficiently small interval. ThenThe choices $A=1$ and $A=2$ give $H(0)=0$ and $H(0)=-3/4$. Restricting to small enough pieces again separates the ranges of $|H|$. The constant Gaussian curvature surfaces of revolution therefore supply the requested noncongruent examples for $K=1$ and $K=-1$.

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.