This book gives an introduction to algebraic functions and projective curves. It covers a wide range of material by dispensing with the machinery of algebraic geometry and proceeding directly via valuation theory to the main results on function fields. It also develops the theory of singular curves by studying maps to projective space, including topics such as Weierstrass points in characteristic p, and the Gorenstein relations for singularities of plane curves.

In this book, Miranda takes the approach that algebraic curves are best encountered for the first time over the complex numbers, where the reader's classical intuition about surfaces, integration, and other concepts can be brought into play. Therefore, many examples of algebraic curves are presented in the first chapters. In this way, the book begins as a primer on Riemann surfaces, with complex charts and meromorphic functions taking centre stage. But the main examples come fromprojective curves, and slowly but surely the text moves toward the algebraic category. Proofs of the Riemann-Roch and Serre Dualtiy Theorems are presented in an algebraic manner, via an adaptation of the adelic proof, expressed completely in terms of solving a Mittag-Leffler problem. Sheaves andcohomology are introduced as a unifying device in the later chapters, so that their utility and naturalness are immediately obvious. Requiring a background of one term of complex variable theory and a year of abstract algebra, this is an excellent graduate textbook for a second-term course in complex variables or a year-long course in algebraic geometry.

This book provides an accessible and self-contained introduction to the theory of algebraic curves over a finite field, a subject that has been of fundamental importance to mathematics for many years and that has essential applications in areas such as finite geometry, number theory, error-correcting codes, and cryptology. Unlike other books, this one emphasizes the algebraic geometry rather than the function field approach to algebraic curves. The authors begin by developing the general theory of curves over any field, highlighting peculiarities occurring for positive characteristic and requiring of the reader only basic knowledge of algebra and geometry. The special properties that a curve over a finite field can have are then discussed. The geometrical theory of linear series is used to find estimates for the number of rational points on a curve, following the theory of Stöhr and Voloch. The approach of Hasse and Weil via zeta functions is explained, and then attention turns to more advanced results: a state-of-the-art introduction to maximal curves over finite fields is provided; a comprehensive account is given of the automorphism group of a curve; and some applications to coding theory and finite geometry are described. The book includes many examples and exercises. It is an indispensable resource for researchers and the ideal textbook for graduate students.

The aim of these notes is to develop the theory of algebraic curves from the viewpoint of modern algebraic geometry, but without excessive prerequisites. We have assumed that the reader is familiar with some basic properties of rings, ideals and polynomials, such as is often covered in a one-semester course in modern algebra; additional commutative algebra is developed in later sections.

This development of the theory of complex algebraic curves was one of the peaks of nineteenth century mathematics. They have many fascinating properties and arise in various areas of mathematics, from number theory to theoretical physics, and are the subject of much research. By using only the basic techniques acquired in most undergraduate courses in mathematics, Dr. Kirwan introduces the theory, observes the algebraic and topological properties of complex algebraic curves, and shows how they are related to complex analysis.

The book presents the central facts of the local, projective and intrinsic theories of complex algebraic plane curves, with complete proofs and starting from low-level prerequisites. It includes Puiseux series, branches, intersection multiplicity, Bézout theorem, rational functions, Riemann-Roch theorem and rational maps. It is aimed at graduate and advanced undergraduate students, and also at anyone interested in algebraic curves or in an introduction to algebraic geometry via curves.

In recent years there has been enormous activity in the theory of algebraic curves. Many long-standing problems have been solved using the general techniques developed in algebraic geometry during the 1950's and 1960's. Additionally, unexpected and deep connections between algebraic curves and differential equations have been uncovered, and these in turn shed light on other classical problems in curve theory. It seems fair to say that the theory of algebraic curves looks completely different now from how it appeared 15 years ago; in particular, our current state of knowledge repre sents a significant advance beyond the legacy left by the classical geometers such as Noether, Castelnuovo, Enriques, and Severi. These books give a presentation of one of the central areas of this recent activity; namely, the study of linear series on both a fixed curve (Volume I) and on a variable curve (Volume II). Our goal is to give a comprehensive and self-contained account of the extrinsic geometry of algebraic curves, which in our opinion constitutes the main geometric core of the recent advances in curve theory. Along the way we shall, of course, discuss appli cations of the theory of linear series to a number of classical topics (e.g., the geometry of the Riemann theta divisor) as well as to some of the current research (e.g., the Kodaira dimension of the moduli space of curves).