AIS - Advanced Topics in Finite Fields

IMSc Chennai, July 2023

Tutorial 4 Equations and Varieties over Finite Fields 26-07-2023

Note: Throughout q denotes a prime power and Fq the finite field with q elements. Also
n denotes a positive integer.
1. Let K be any field, and let X, Y be affine algebraic varieties defined over K.
(a) Show that X = Y if and only if I(X) = I(Y ).
(b) Let P ∈ An (K) be a point not in X. Show that there is a polynomial F in
K[X1 , . . . , Xn ] such that F (Q) = 0 for all Q ∈ X, but F (P ) = 1.
(c) Let P1 , . . . , Pr be distinct points in An (K), not in X. Show that there are
polynomials F1 , . . . , Fr ∈ I(X) such that Fi (Pj ) = 0 if i 6= j, and Fi (Pi ) = 1.
2. Let K be an algebraically closed. field and let I be an ideal of K[X1 , . . . , Xn ]. Show
that Z(I) is a finite set if and only if K[X1 , . . . , Xn ]/I is a finite-dimensional vector
space over K.
3. Let K be any field, Show that every polynomial f ∈ K[X1 , . . . , Xn ] of degree d ≥ 0
can be uniquely expressed as f = f0 + f1 + · · · + fd , where each fj is a homogeneous
polynomial in K[X1 , . . . , Xn ] of degree j or the zero polynomial, for 0 ≤ j ≤ d and
fd 6= 0. One calls f0 , f1 , . . . , fd the homogeneous components of f .
4. Let K be a field, and let I be an ideal of K[X1 , . . . , Xn ]. Show that I is a homoge-
neous ideal (i.e.,it is generated by homogeneous polynomials in K[X1 , . . . , Xn ] ) if
and only if I contains the homogeneous components of every nonzero f ∈ I.
5. Let I, J be homogeneous ideals in K[X0 , . . . , Xn ]. Then prove the following:
(a) If I = hSi for some set S ⊂ K[X0 , . . . , Xn ] of homogeneous polynomials, then
V (I) = V (S).
(b) If I ⊂ J, then V (J) ⊂ V (I).
(c) V (IJ) = V (I) ∪ V (J).
(d) If {Iα } is any collection of ideals, then V (∪α Iα ) = ∩α V (Iα ).
6. Find the number of hyperplanes in Pn (Fq ).
7. Find the number of hyperplanes in Pn (Fq ) passing through a fixed point P in Pn (Fq ).
8. Let d be a nonnegative integer such that d ≤ n(q − 1). Show that the number of
reduced monomials in Fq [X1 , . . . , Xn ] of degree at most d, is given by
n   
X
i n n + d − iq
βq (d, n) := (−1) .
i=0
i n

[Hint: If E := {(v1 , . . . , vn ) ∈ Zn : vj ≥ 0 for j = 1, . . . , n and v1 + · · · + vn ≤ d},

then βq (d, n) = |E \ (E1 ∪ . . . ∪ En ) |, where Ej := {(v1 , . . . , vn ) ∈ E : vj ≥ q}.]