Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 21 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
By part (a), work first with an affine base and its homogeneous equations. Put , write for its finite-dimensional degree- vector space, and use for . At each base point define the graded multiplication map for a projective fiberIts image is exactly , since taking the degree- part of any expression in the homogeneous ideal discards all other degrees. Moreoverbecause degree- monomials generate .
Choose monomial bases for the domain summands and codomain. Every entry of the resulting matrix is a coefficient of one of the , hence a regular function of . If , failure of surjectivity is the vanishing of all -by- matrix minors. It is therefore a closed rank-defect locus . If the matrix has fewer than columns, the failure is automatic and , also closed. Constants and are covered by the same construction.
Part (c) gives , an intersection of closed subsets, hence closed. Apply part (a) to pass back to arbitrary . Thus projection from sends every closed subset to a closed subset. This proves the closedness of projection from projective space without assuming the properness result being proved.
The field convention matters: a rational-point projection need not be Zariski closed. Over , the closed equation in has real-point image . Indeed would force , so a solution exists precisely when is a square in . This infinite proper subset of the affine line is not Zariski closed. The valid arbitrary-field theorem uses scheme or geometric images, for which the matrix argument remains valid at every residue field.