Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / ii / Paper 3 / 20F / i

For $X\subset {\mathbb{A}}^n$ with vanishing ideal $I(X)$, the Zariski tangent space at $P$ isIt is the kernel of the Jacobian matrix of generators for the ideal, or intrinsically the dual of ${\mathfrak{m}}_P/{\mathfrak{m}}_P^2$. A point is a singular point of an algebraic variety when this tangent dimension exceeds the local dimension of the variety; otherwise it is nonsingular. For an irreducible affine variety the local dimension at a closed point equals its dimension.