Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 4 24F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Apply a projective linear transformation sending the first points to the coordinate pointsThe next point has every homogeneous coordinate nonzero by general linear position, so a diagonal projective transformation fixing the sends it toWrite the last point as . Again general linear position implies that every is nonzero. It also implies for : otherwise , , and the coordinate points other than would lie in the hyperplane .
Put and define the degree- homogeneous polynomialsThe associated map is a rational normal curve. It sends to , sends to , and sends to , becauseis one common nonzero scalar times . This proves existence.
For uniqueness, parametrize any rational normal curve through these points and choose a coordinate on its source so that the preimages of and are respectively and . If the preimage of is , then its th coordinate polynomial must have all the other as roots. It is thereforeThe value at is , so all are equal and may be removed by a common rescaling. The value at is , so is proportional to . Thus all are obtained from the by one common rescaling of the coordinate on . This merely reparametrizes the curve, proving uniqueness.
For , choose the monomial basis . The resulting curve is the twisted cubicIts homogeneous ideal is generated by the three quadratic matrix minorsthe minors of
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 3 24G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
For an algebraically closed field , the strong Hilbert Nullstellensatz says that every ideal satisfiesIts weak form says that exactly when . Now let and let be a homogeneous ideal. The affine zero set of is the affine cone over together with the origin. Hence, when the projective zero set is empty, eitheror the affine zero set is exactly the origin. In the latter case the Hilbert Nullstellensatz givesthe irrelevant ideal of projective space. Equivalently, some power is contained in . These are precisely the alternatives in the Projective Nullstellensatz.
Let be a smooth quadric surface. After a projective linear transformation, the Segre embedding identifiesChoose distinct points . The two fibresare the promised disjoint curves on a smooth quadric surface: each is a smooth projective line, and . By the Bézout theorem, any two nonempty curves in the projective plane intersect. An isomorphism of algebraic varieties preserves intersections and takes projective curves to projective curves, so these disjoint curves prove
Next let be a smooth projective curve and let be a rational map to a projective variety. At a point outside its initial domain, writeusing elements of the function field . The local ring of a smooth algebraic curve at is a discrete valuation ring. If , multiplying every coordinate by a function of valuation makes all coordinates regular at and at least one a unit there. They therefore define a morphism near . Repeating this at the finitely many missing points proves the extension of a rational map from a smooth projective curve.
Smoothness is essential. Let be the normalization of a nodal curve for a rational nodal cubic . The inverse is a rational map on the smooth locus. If it extended to a morphism , then would agree with the identity on a dense Zariski-open subset of and hence everywhere. But the two distinct points above the node would satisfya contradiction. This is the failure of rational-map extension on a singular curve.
Finally take the Fermat cubic curveand define the projective hypersurfaceBecause and have no common irreducible factor, the bihomogeneous polynomial is irreducible, so is an algebraic variety. Letbe the second coordinate projection. Every homogeneous cubic in three variables has a projective zero over , so every fibre is nonempty and is a surjective morphism. Over the fibre is the Fermat cubic curve, which is smooth and has genusOver the fibre isthe union of exactly three distinct projective lines, hence exactly three irreducible components. This is the cubic pencil with a triangular member required by the question.
Projective Nullstellensatz Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Let be a homogeneous ideal over an algebraically closed field, and letbe the irrelevant ideal. Then exactly when either or . For a proper homogeneous ideal this is also equivalent to for some .