Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 14 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose a flex as , with tangent line . The flex coordinates for a smooth plane cubic giveThe coefficient is nonzero because is not a component, and expresses smoothness at . Since the field characteristic is not two, the projective linear changecompletes the square. The equation becomes after dividing by a nonzero constant, where is a degree-three homogeneous polynomial with nonzero coefficient.
On , the polynomial has three distinct roots in the algebraically closed field. A repeated root would make a singular point of , since both first partial derivatives vanish there. PutA further nonzero scaling of absorbs the leading coefficient and ; the required square root exists in the algebraically closed field. These are projective linear changes of the original coordinates. Renaming the new coordinates gives the Legendre form of an elliptic curveIts projective completion is , with the chosen flex at infinity.