Book Details

Internet Resource: Please Login to download book

Its focus on curves of degree at most three keeps results tangible and proofs transparent. Theorems follow naturally from high school algebra and two key ideas: homogenous coordinates and intersection multiplicities. By classifying irreducible cubics over the real numbers and proving that their points form Abelian groups, the book gives readers easy access to the study of elliptic curves. It includes a simple proof of Bezout's Theorem on the number of intersections of two curves.The book is a text for a one-semester course on algebraic curves for junior-senior mathematics majors. The only prerequisite is first-year calculus.