Difficulty in derivation of Christoffel symbols

45 Views Asked by At

On page 232 of Do Carmo's Differential Geometry of curves and surfaces, we take the inner product of the first four relations below with $X_u$ and $X_v$: $$X_{uu} = \Gamma^1_{11}X_u + \Gamma^2_{11}X_v+L_1N$$ $$X_{uv} = \Gamma^1_{12}X_u + \Gamma^2_{12}X_v+L_2N$$ $$X_{vu} = \Gamma^1_{21}X_u + \Gamma^2_{21}X_v + \overline{L_2}N$$ $$X_{vv} = \Gamma^1_{22}X_u + \Gamma^2_{22}X_v + L_3N$$

to get \begin{cases} \langle X_u, X_{uu} \rangle = \Gamma^1_{11}\cdot \langle X_u, X_u \rangle + \Gamma^2_{11}\cdot \langle X_v, X_u \rangle + 0 = \Gamma^1_{11}E + \Gamma^2_{11}F \\ \langle X_v, X_{uu}\rangle = \Gamma^1_{11}\cdot \langle X_v, X_u \rangle + \Gamma^2_{11}\cdot \langle X_v, X_v \rangle + 0 = \Gamma^1_{11}F + \Gamma^2_{11}G \end{cases}

\begin{cases} \langle X_u, X_{uv} \rangle = \Gamma^1_{12}\cdot\langle X_u, X_u \rangle + \Gamma^2_{12}\cdot \langle X_u, X_v\rangle + 0 = \Gamma^1_{11}E + \Gamma^2_{12}F \\ \langle X_v, X_{uv}\rangle = \Gamma^1_{12}\cdot \langle X_v, X_u \rangle + \Gamma^2_{12}\cdot \langle X_v, X_v\rangle +0= \Gamma^1_{12}F+ \Gamma^2_{12}G \end{cases}

\begin{cases} \langle X_u, X_{vv}\rangle = \Gamma^1_{22}\cdot \langle X_u, X_u\rangle + \Gamma^2_{22}\cdot \langle X_u, X_v \rangle + 0 = \Gamma^1_{22}E + \Gamma^2_{22}F \\ \langle X_v, X_{vv} \rangle = \Gamma^1_{22}\cdot \langle X_v, X_u \rangle + \Gamma^2_{22}\cdot \langle X_v, X_v\rangle + 0 = \Gamma^1_{22}F + \Gamma^2_{22}G \end{cases}

which Do Carmo says can be written as $$\frac{1}{2} E_u$$, $$F_u-\frac{1}{2}E_v$$, $$\frac{1}{2}E_v$$, $$\frac{1}{2} G_u$$, $$F_v - \frac{1}{2}G_u$$, and $$\frac{1}{2}G_v$$ in that order.

Now I don't understand why this is the case. For example, for the very first equation, shouldn't the inner product between $X_u$ and $X_{uu}$ be $$\frac{\partial X}{ \partial u} \cdot \frac{\partial X}{\partial uu} = \frac{\partial E}{\partial u} = E_u ? $$ Where does the half come from?

Thanks.