Local defining function of a complex analytic hypersurface

A local defining function for a complex analytic hypersurface $Y$ near $x$ is a holomorphic function $f$ on a neighbourhood $U$ such that $Y\cap U=\{f=0\}$. It may be chosen reduced, with each local irreducible factor occurring once. The local ring ${\mathcal{O}}_{X,x}$ of a complex manifold is a regular local ring and hence a unique factorization domain; each height-one prime of the hypersurface germ is principal, and the product of generators for its finitely many local branches gives $f$.

The local ring of a complex manifold is the unique factorization domain of convergent power series in local coordinates. A reduced local defining function of a complex analytic hypersurface has each local irreducible factor once. The analytic zero-set ideal is the radical of its principal ideal, and reducedness makes that principal ideal radical. Thus two reduced equations for the same germ generate the same ideal and differ by a unit. A globally irreducible hypersurface may have several local branches; reducedness includes each once. Without reducedness, $f$ and $f^2$ have the same zero set and need not differ by a unit.