 Principal hypersurface dimension lemma

For an irreducible variety which is an affine variety of dimension $d$ and a nonzero nonunit regular function $f$, each irreducible component of $V(f)$ has dimension $d-1$. Choose a closed point on just the component in question. In its local ring $R$, $\sqrt{(f)}$ is that component's prime ideal. A system of parameters of $R/(f)$, lifted and supplemented by $f$, generates a maximal-primary ideal; the Krull height theorem gives $\dim R/(f)\ge d-1$. Extending any chain above $(f)$ by the zero prime of the domain gives the reverse inequality. This proof does not identify dimension with transcendence degree.