Algebraic geometry has its origin in the study of systems of polynomial
equations f (x, . . ., x )=0, 1 1 n . . . f (x, . . ., x )=0. r 1 n Here
the f ? k[X, . . ., X ] are polynomials in n variables with coe?cients
in a ?eld k. i 1 n n ThesetofsolutionsisasubsetV(f, . . ., f)ofk .
Polynomialequationsareomnipresent 1 r inandoutsidemathematics,
andhavebeenstudiedsinceantiquity. Thefocusofalgebraic geometry is
studying the geometric structure of their solution sets. n If the
polynomials f are linear, then V(f, . . ., f ) is a subvector space of
k. Its i 1 r "size" is measured by its dimension and it can be described
as the kernel of the linear n r map k ? k, x=(x, . . ., x ) ? (f (x), .
. ., f (x)). 1 n 1 r For arbitrary polynomials, V(f, . . ., f ) is in
general not a subvector space. To study 1 r it, one uses the close
connection of geometry and algebra which is a key property of algebraic
geometry, and whose ?rst manifestation is the following: If g = g f +. .
. g f 1 1 r r is a linear combination of the f (with coe?cients g ?
k[T, . . ., T ]), then we have i i 1 n V(f, . . ., f)= V(g, f, . . .,
f ). Thus the set of solutions depends only on the ideal 1 r 1 r a?
k[T, . . ., T ] generated by the f .