News
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Dates and Times
- Lecture: Tue 10:15-11:45 (48-538), starting April 13
- Example class: Thu 12:15-13:45 (48-538), biweekly starting April 30
- Holidays: May 14 (Himmelfahrt), May 25 (Pfingstmontag)
- Substitute dates: Thu May 21 instead of May 14 for the example class
Homework assignments
Homework problems will be assigned biweekly on Tuesdays for the class, starting on April 21. They can be downloaded below and are due on Tuesdays one week later (at 10:15). You can put your solutions in Diego's mailbox next to 48-210 or upload them as a PDF file in the Submissions tab of the OLAT course. You can submit them in groups of up to 3 students. Of course, in this case everyone should have their fair share both in finding and writing down the solutions; it is expected that everyone can explain their solutions on the blackboard in the example sessions. If you submit your solutions online as a group, only one of you should upload them and indicate the names of all participants on the solution.
- Problem set 1, due April 28
- Problem set 2, due May 12
- Problem set 3, due May 26
- Problem set 4, due June 9
- Problem set 5, due June 23
- Problem set 6, due July 7
Class Notes
The notes for this class are finished now, they can be downloaded below. There are also video recordings of a previous version of the class (which is almost identical to this semester).
- Complete notes (71 pages, last updated July 20, 2026)
- Chapter 0: Introduction
- Chapter 1: Affine Curves
- Chapter 2: Intersection Multiplicities
- Chapter 3: Projective Curves
- Chapter 4: Bézout's Theorem
- Chapter 5: Applications of Bézout's Theorem
- Chapter 6: Functions and Divisors
- Chapter 7: Elliptic Curves
- Chapter 8: The Riemann-Roch Theorem
Credits
You will get a certificate for this class if you attend the example classes regularly and score at least 1 out of 4 points in at least 70% of the homework problems.
Literature
There is no need to use any further literature besides the notes above. However, it can sometimes be helpful for the understanding of the material to read about it somewhere else in other words. If you want to have a look at some books for this reason, here is a small selection for the beginning:
- W. Fulton: Algebraic Curves (2008)
- E. Kunz: Introduction to Plane Algebraic Curves, Birkhäuser (2005)
- F. Kirwan: Complex Algebraic Curves, Cambridge University Press (1995)
Questions?
If you have any questions – about the organization of the course, the lecture, the homework problems or whatever – do not hesitate to contact us! You can write an e-mail or in the forum, ask Diego (bargans@rptu.de, 48-518), talk to me after the lecture or just come at any time to my office (andreas@rptu.de, 48-517).