Some characteristic numbers for nodal and cuspidal plane curves of any degree (Q1178750)

In a previous paper [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 329, No. 1, 73-96 (1992)], the author obtained some enumerative results for families of non-singular plane curves, using a compactification constructed with a suitable sequence of two blow-ups at smooth centers over the projective space parametrizing plane curves of given degree. --- In this note the author shows how to apply the same construction to compute some characteristic numbers for families of nodal and cuspidal plane curves (over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0). The key information to obtain these results amounts essentially to Segre classes of the intersection of the centers of the blow-ups with the parameter spaces of the families (or their proper transforms). --- These results cover known facts in the case of cubics and give a modern verification of some classic results of H. G. Zeuthen for quartics.