Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 32 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put , . Then . After using the curve equation, the displayed rational functions becomeSet . Direct substitution into givesover . Replacing by makes this . This verifies the target equation explicitly, and identifies the functions with the two-isogeny formula after translating the source's two-torsion point to zero and then translating the target coordinate.
We must also check the omitted affine points. At , is a local parameter, and has order two, since at . Thus has a pole of order two and one of order three. At , the usual pole orders on a smooth cubic in Weierstrass form give poles two and three as well: the correction terms have higher order and do not cancel their leading terms. There are no other poles. A rational map from a smooth curve into a projective curve extends across these points; the indicated pole orders show that both and map to . Hence this is a nonconstant identity-preserving morphism, and part (i) makes it an isogeny of elliptic curves.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 4 23G i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the usual hypothesis that the ground field has characteristic different from two, and work over its algebraic closure for the geometric points. This hypothesis is necessary for the smooth elliptic-curve calculation: in characteristic two, the displayed cubic model can be singular even when its three roots are distinct.
Homogenization givesAt this says , soTo compute the pole orders on a smooth cubic in Weierstrass form, work in the chart , writing and . The equation is . Its derivative in at is one on the left after bringing the right side across, so is a local parameter. The equation gives . Consequently and have poles of orders two and three at .