To analyze the genus one tangent incidence curve of two conics, choose projective coordinates in which has equation . Its points and tangent lines are parametrized by as
For , the incidence equation is a nonzero homogeneous quadratic in , so the projection is finite of degree two. Its discriminant vanishes exactly when , that is, at . There are four such points; Bézout theorem says their intersection multiplicities sum to four, so all four intersections are transverse.
Locally on , after choosing an affine tangent-parameter chart and completing the square, the incidence equation is , where is a local parameter and has a simple zero at each intersection. This is smooth, with ramification index two there; away from those points the roots are distinct and the cover is étale. The analogous chart covers a root at infinity. Thus is smooth everywhere, and the cover has exactly four ramification points. It is connected: the discriminant has odd valuation at each of its four zeros, so it cannot be a square in the function field of . The associated quadratic extension is therefore a field, not two separate sheets.
A smooth plane conic over is isomorphic to the projective line. Apply the Riemann-Hurwitz formula to this connected degree-two cover:
Consequently , and is a smooth projective genus one curve.