Monomial curve ($\mathrm{Spec}k[t^{a_1},\dots ,t^{a_n}]$)

Over a field $k$, an affine curve parametrized by positive integer powers of one parameter. Its coordinate ring is the subalgebra generated by those powers, and its defining prime ideal is the kernel of $k[x_1,\dots ,x_n]\to k[t]$ sending $x_i$ to $t^{a_i}$. Equal exponent sums yield binomial relations. Studying those relations connects an additive semigroup of exponents to the geometry of the curve.

The kernel of $x\mapsto t^3$, $y\mapsto t^4$, $z\mapsto t^5$ is generated by $y^2-xz$, $yz-x^3$, $z^2-x^{2}y$. Reducing these three relations leaves a unique normal form $A_0(x)+A_1(x)y+A_2(x)z$: its images have distinct exponents modulo three. The curve ring is therefore finite free of rank three over $k[x]$ and has dimension one. In a three-variable polynomial ring its ideal has height two, but its three independent quadratic initial forms force at least three generators. This is a concrete failure of generation by codimension many equations.