An important class of varieties, not easily understood directly from their defining equations, are the abelian varieties, which are the projective varieties whose points form an abelian group. The prototypical examples are the elliptic curves, which have a rich theory. They were instrumental in the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and are also used in elliptic-curve cryptography.
An important class of varieties, not easily understood directly from their defining equations, are the abelian varieties, which are the projective varieties whose points form an abelian .group. The prototypical examples are the elliptic curves, which have a rich theory. They were instru!mental in the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem :and are also used in elliptic-curve c.ryptography.