Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
1. The problem which I propose to solve is that of finding the number of quartic curves of intersection of two quadrics which pass through p points and have q lines as chords, where p + q = 8. There are ∞16 elliptic quartics in space; to contain a line as a chord is two conditions, and to pass through a point is two conditions, so we should expect a finite number of solutions. Throughout this paper I shall refer to an elliptic quartic curve in space of three dimensions simply as a “quartic.” I shall denote the number of solutions for a particular value of p by np.
* See Segre, , “Mehrdimensionale Räume,” Encykl. Math. Wiss., III c, 7, 815.Google Scholar