Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2010 / ii / Paper 4 / 23G / iii / Solution

A rational function with no poles away from $P_{\infty }$ is regular on the smooth affine curve. Its ring of regular functions is the coordinate ringso it has a unique expression $A(x)+yB(x)$ with polynomials $A,B$. This regular-function assertion uses smoothness, hence normality, of the affine curve, not Riemann-Roch theorem.

The nonconstant leading term of $A$ has even pole order $2\mathrm{deg}A$ at infinity, while $yB$ has odd pole order $3+2\mathrm{deg}B$. These different parities prevent cancellation. Thus no nonconstant such function has a pole of order at most one. Therefore