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Daniel Asimov
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Normal curvature of curves leaving a point of a smoothly embedded surface

The curve C(𝜃) drawn on a smoothly embedded surface 𝜮 in 3-space — where C(𝜃) is defined as the intersection of 𝜮 with a 2-plane perpendicular to 𝜮 at P — leaving the point P at angle 𝜃 will have the well-known formula for curvature:

k(𝜃) = k1 cos2(𝜃) + k2 sin2(𝜃)

at P, where k1 and k2 are the principal curvatures of 𝜮 at P.

Likewise, we can look at a point P of a smoothly embedded surface 𝜮 in Euclidean n-space, and consider the curves C(𝜃) that are each the intersection of 𝜮 with a hyperplane that is perpendicular to 𝜮 at P and ask what their curvatures are as a function of angle 𝜃.

Does there exist a formula (like k(𝜃) = k1 cos2(𝜃) + k2 sin2(𝜃), or different) for the curvatures k(𝜃) of the curves C(𝜃) in this case?

And what about the special case where 𝜮 is a Riemann surface holomorphically embedded in Cm = R2m?

Daniel Asimov
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