Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ii/paper-3/20f/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 3 20F iii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the two charts of the blowup of the affine plane at the origin. In the chart , the total transform isso the proper transform has equation . It misses the exceptional divisor and is smooth, since its derivative with respect to is there.
In the chart , the total transform is , so the proper transform isIts equation has partial derivative with respect to , so it is smooth even at its unique intersection with the exceptional divisor. The two chart descriptions agree on their overlap. Thus one blowup makes the cusp nonsingular, although it is tangent to the exceptional divisor there.
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