14.6. Principal Curvatures, Gaussian Cur- vature, （14.6。）.pdf

14.6. Principal Curvatures, Gaussian Cur- vature, Mean Curvature Principal . . . We will now study how the normal curvature at a point varies when a unit tangent vector varies. In general, we will see that the normal curvature has a max- Home Page imum value κ and a minimum value κ , and that the corre- Title Page 1 2 sponding directions are orthogonal. This was shown by Euler in 1760. The quantity K = κ κ called the Gaussian curvature and the Page 712 of 733 1 2 quantity H = (κ + κ )/2 called the mean curvature, play a 1 2 Go Back very important role in the theory of surfaces. Full Screen We will compute H and K in terms of the first and the sec- Close ond fundamental form. We also classify points on a surface Quit according to the value and sign of the Gaussian curvature. Recall that given a surface X and some point p on X , the vectors X , X form a basis of the tangent space T (X ). u v p Principal . . . −→ Given a unit vector t = X x + X