A generalization of Baker's theorem (Q623235): Difference between revisions

The author provides an elementary proof of Baker's theorem [\textit{H. F. Baker}, Trans. Camb. Philos. Soc. 15, 403--450 (1894)], which establishes that the genus of the function field of an absolutely irreducible polynomial \(F(X,Y)\) is bounded from above by the number of interior integral points of its Newton polygon. The proof uses only convexity of the Newton polygon and basic properties of valuations. Furthermore, using a result of \textit{A. M. Ostrowski} on Newton polytopes [Aequationes Math. 14, 1--32 (1976; Zbl 0319.13005)], Baker's theorem is extended to a compositum of a finite collection \(\{\mathbb{F}(x_i,y)\}_{i=1}^n\) of such function fields with each \(\mathbb{F}(x_i,y)\) linearly disjoint from \(\mathbb{F}(x_1,...,x_{i-1},x_{i+1},...,x_n,y)\) over \(\mathbb{F}(y)\). Finally, the author provides some examples that distinguish this extension of Baker's theorem from Castelnuovo's inequality.