Projective varietyIn algebraic geometry, a projective variety over an algebraically closed field k is a subset of some projective n-space over k that is the zero-locus of some finite family of homogeneous polynomials of n + 1 variables with coefficients in k, that generate a prime ideal, the defining ideal of the variety. Equivalently, an algebraic variety is projective if it can be embedded as a Zariski closed subvariety of .
System of polynomial equationsA system of polynomial equations (sometimes simply a polynomial system) is a set of simultaneous equations f1 = 0, ..., fh = 0 where the fi are polynomials in several variables, say x1, ..., xn, over some field k. A solution of a polynomial system is a set of values for the xis which belong to some algebraically closed field extension K of k, and make all equations true. When k is the field of rational numbers, K is generally assumed to be the field of complex numbers, because each solution belongs to a field extension of k, which is isomorphic to a subfield of the complex numbers.
Italian school of algebraic geometryIn relation to the history of mathematics, the Italian school of algebraic geometry refers to mathematicians and their work in birational geometry, particularly on algebraic surfaces, centered around Rome roughly from 1885 to 1935. There were 30 to 40 leading mathematicians who made major contributions, about half of those being Italian. The leadership fell to the group in Rome of Guido Castelnuovo, Federigo Enriques and Francesco Severi, who were involved in some of the deepest discoveries, as well as setting the style.
Algebraic surfaceIn mathematics, an algebraic surface is an algebraic variety of dimension two. In the case of geometry over the field of complex numbers, an algebraic surface has complex dimension two (as a complex manifold, when it is non-singular) and so of dimension four as a smooth manifold. The theory of algebraic surfaces is much more complicated than that of algebraic curves (including the compact Riemann surfaces, which are genuine surfaces of (real) dimension two).
Projective spaceIn mathematics, the concept of a projective space originated from the visual effect of perspective, where parallel lines seem to meet at infinity. A projective space may thus be viewed as the extension of a Euclidean space, or, more generally, an affine space with points at infinity, in such a way that there is one point at infinity of each direction of parallel lines. This definition of a projective space has the disadvantage of not being isotropic, having two different sorts of points, which must be considered separately in proofs.
Bézout's theoremBézout's theorem is a statement in algebraic geometry concerning the number of common zeros of n polynomials in n indeterminates. In its original form the theorem states that in general the number of common zeros equals the product of the degrees of the polynomials. It is named after Étienne Bézout. In some elementary texts, Bézout's theorem refers only to the case of two variables, and asserts that, if two plane algebraic curves of degrees and have no component in common, they have intersection points, counted with their multiplicity, and including points at infinity and points with complex coordinates.
Zariski tangent spaceIn algebraic geometry, the Zariski tangent space is a construction that defines a tangent space at a point P on an algebraic variety V (and more generally). It does not use differential calculus, being based directly on abstract algebra, and in the most concrete cases just the theory of a system of linear equations. For example, suppose given a plane curve C defined by a polynomial equation F(X,Y) = 0 and take P to be the origin (0,0).
Krull dimensionIn commutative algebra, the Krull dimension of a commutative ring R, named after Wolfgang Krull, is the supremum of the lengths of all chains of prime ideals. The Krull dimension need not be finite even for a Noetherian ring. More generally the Krull dimension can be defined for modules over possibly non-commutative rings as the deviation of the poset of submodules. The Krull dimension was introduced to provide an algebraic definition of the dimension of an algebraic variety: the dimension of the affine variety defined by an ideal I in a polynomial ring R is the Krull dimension of R/I.
Rational varietyIn mathematics, a rational variety is an algebraic variety, over a given field K, which is birationally equivalent to a projective space of some dimension over K. This means that its function field is isomorphic to the field of all rational functions for some set of indeterminates, where d is the dimension of the variety. Let V be an affine algebraic variety of dimension d defined by a prime ideal I = ⟨f1, ..., fk⟩ in . If V is rational, then there are n + 1 polynomials g0, ..., gn in such that In order words, we have a of the variety.
Length of a moduleIn algebra, the length of a module is a generalization of the dimension of a vector space which measures its size. page 153 It is defined to be the length of the longest chain of submodules. The modules of finite length are finitely generated modules, but as opposite to vector spaces, many finitely generated modules have an infinite length. Finitely generated modules of finite length are also called Artinian modules and are at the basis of the theory of Artinian rings. For vector spaces, the length equals the dimension.
