Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-algebraic-geometry-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2011/1/e/solution

The parametrization lands on the curve because . Its pullback has image
Every monomial in this subalgebra has exponent for nonnegative integers . No such exponent is one, so no linear combination of these monomials is . Thus is not surjective and is not an isomorphism.
It is nevertheless bijective on points. Away from the origin, and gives and using ; the origin comes only from . The rational inverse cannot extend regularly at the origin: if with , then has a nonzero degree-one term, whereas has none.
This distinguishes a set-theoretic bijection from an isomorphism of varieties in every characteristic.
Figure 1.
Cusp parametrizations reveal which rational coordinates fail to be regular
. The left curve uses x=t cubed and y=t to the fourth; recovering t fails regularly at its origin. The right curve uses x=t cubed and y=t squared; the open subset used later omits the parameter values zero and one, marked with hollow circles. Details.

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