Surfaces with nodes in projective space (Q1082392)

A point p of a surface F is called a node if and only if the germ of F at p is analytically isomorphic to the germ of the cone \(x^ 2+y^ 2+z^ 2=0\) at the origin. In this paper, the author proves that if F is an algebraic surface in \(P^ 3\) (over an algebraically closed field, characteristic \(\neq 2)\) of degree \(m\) and with only nodes as singularities, then passing through the nodes imposes independent linear conditions to the surfaces of degree \(\geq 2m-5.\) As the author says, this result was stated by \textit{F. Severi} [Ann. Mat. Pura. Appl., IV. Ser. 25, 1-41 (1946; Zbl 0061.339)]. Some consequences of the theorem for quintic surfaces are also given.