Earl Richard, 'Making surfaces',
Topology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2019)
page 46
Provided there are no singular points, then a degree d equation defines a Riemann surface which is topologically a torus with $g$ holes. There is a profound but easily described connection between the degree of a curve’s equation $d$ and the genus $g$ of its Riemann surface. This is given by the degree-genus formula which states that
\[g=\frac12(d-1)(d-2)\]
where $g$ is the genus of the Riemann surface and $d$ is the degree of the curve’s equation. Remembering the examples we have met, note that $d=2$ for $y=x^2$ gives $g=0$, a sphere, and $d=3$ for $y^2=x(x-1)(x-2)$ gives $g=1$, a torus. For curves with singular points, the formula can be generalized including a correction term for each singularity, as shown by Max Noether in 1884. |