Polynomial functions are regular, giving an injective map ; injectivity follows from quotienting by the full vanishing ideal. To prove surjectivity, let be globally regular and consider the denominator ideal
It is an ideal because sums and polynomial multiples preserve this property.
Fix . Locally on a neighbourhood of , with nonzero there. Principal affine opens form a basis, so choose with and . Then
as functions on all of : on it follows from the local fraction, and off both sides vanish because . Hence and .
Thus has no common zero on . By the weak Nullstellensatz for , every proper ideal lies in a maximal ideal belonging to a point of ; therefore cannot be proper. We get , so itself is polynomial. This proves
The argument works for reducible affine varieties as well: it uses functions and denominator ideals rather than assuming a single fraction field.