Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 15 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the graded ring homomorphismwhere source degree maps to target degree . The homogeneous ideal of the twisted cubic is : a homogeneous polynomial vanishes on the parametrized curve precisely when its substitution vanishes identically. Here is infinite, being an algebraically closed field, so vanishing at all parameter points implies the polynomial identity.
Let be generated byTheir substitutions vanish, hence . To prove the reverse inclusion as an equality of ideals, we need more than a set-theoretic description of the zero locus.
Modulo , replace by , by , and by . Each replacement strictly decreases the sum of the exponents of and , so the reduction terminates. It shows that the degree- quotient is spanned by the standard monomials of the twisted cubicFor there are of these. For the sole monomial is . Their substituted images have -exponents respectively , and , so they are exactly the distinct monomialsThese are linearly independent. Consequently any degree- polynomial in , after reduction modulo , has all its reduced coefficients zero. It belongs to . Applying this to each homogeneous component givesThis also proves that the quotient embeds in the domain , so the displayed ideal is prime; no radicalization or saturation correction is concealed in the argument. Its image is the third Veronese subring , and the calculation gives the Hilbert polynomial , consistent with degree three and genus zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 113 1 b Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
The even-degree subring is the second Veronese subringwhere have degree one in the regraded ring. The canonical invariance of the Proj construction under passage to a Veronese subring givesOn homogeneous points this is the degree-two Veronese embeddingIt is an isomorphism onto the closed subschemeThus the quotient homomorphism supplies the requested closed immersion of into the projective plane.
Standard monomials of the twisted cubic 2026-10-14
Modulo the three quadric relations of the twisted cubic, replace by , by , and by . Each replacement reduces the total exponent of . The resulting monomials are , , and . In degree their images under are all distinct monomials of degree . They are linearly independent, so the three quadrics generate the full homogeneous ideal, not merely its radical. The quotient is the third Veronese subring of .