Basic Algebraic Geometry 1

Shafarevich's Basic Algebraic Geometry has been a classic and universally used introduction to the subject since its first appearance over 40 years ago. As the translator writes in a prefatory note, ``For all [advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate] students, and for the many specialists in other branches of math who need a liberal education in algebraic geometry, Shafarevich’s book is a must.''

I. Algebraic Varieties in a Projective Space.- I. Fundamental Concepts.- § 1. Plane Algebraic Curves.- 1. Rational Curves.- 2. Connections with the Theory of Fields.- 3. Birational Isomorphism of Curves.- Exercises.- §2. Closed Subsets of Affine Spaces.- 1. Definition of Closed Subset.- 2. Regular Functions on a Closed Set.- 3. Regular Mappings.- Exercises.- § 3. Rational Functions.- 1. Irreducible Sets.- 2. Rational Functions.- 3. Rational Mappings.- Exercises.- § 4. Quasiprojective Varieties.- 1. Closed Subsets of a Projective Space.- 2. Regular Functions.- 3. Rational Functions.

This book introduces the reader to modern algebraic geometry. It presents Grothendieck's technically demanding language of schemes that is the basis of the most important developments in the last fifty years within this area.