Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 24I d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The semicubical parabola has coordinate ringunder , . The isomorphism is valid in every characteristic: after division by the monic polynomial in , a remainder maps to a sum of distinct even powers and odd powers at least three, and can vanish only when both polynomials are zero.
Its fraction field contains , which is an integral element over because it satisfies . However , since a polynomial in has no term of degree one. Thus is not an integrally closed domain. The ring of the affine line is a principal ideal domain and therefore an integrally closed domain. This property is preserved by ring isomorphism. By coordinate-ring functoriality,The parametrization is a bijection on points over an algebraically closed field, but that does not make its inverse a morphism at the cusp.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 1 25F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Suppose first that the affine variety is irreducible. If , thenBoth pieces are Zariski closed in . Irreducibility forces one to equal , so either or . Thus is a prime ideal.
Conversely, suppose that is prime and that with closed in . If both were proper, the Hilbert Nullstellensatz would giveChoose and . Their product vanishes on , so , contradicting primality. Hence one piece equals . This proves the criterion of irreducibility and prime vanishing ideal:
For the semicubical parabolaconsiderCertainly . Divide any polynomial by the monic polynomial as a polynomial in ; its remainder is . If this remainder lies in , thenThe first summand contains only odd powers of and the second only even powers, so both vanish and . ThereforeThe latter is a subring of the integral domain , hence is a domain. Thus is prime and
An affine variety of dimension is smooth at when its Zariski tangent space has dimension ; equivalently, the Jacobian criterion requires the Jacobian of its defining ideal to have rank . For this plane curve, put . Its gradient isAt the gradient vanishes, so the tangent space is all of and has dimension two rather than the curve dimension one. Hence the result on the coordinate ring and singularity of the semicubical parabola gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 ii Paper 1 37B ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25