LMFDB definition

Discriminant of a genus 2 curve

The discriminant Δ\Delta of a Weierstrass equation y2+h(x)y=f(x)y^2+h(x)y=f(x) can be computed as Δ:={28lc(f)2disc(f+h2/4)if f+h2/4 has odd degree,28disc(f+h2/4)if f+h2/4 has even degree, \Delta := \begin{cases} 2^8\text{lc}(f)^2\text{disc}(f+h^2/4)&\text{if }f+h^2/4\text{ has odd degree},\\ 2^8\text{disc}(f+h^2/4)&\text{if }f+h^2/4\text{ has even degree}, \end{cases} where lc(f)\text{lc}(f) denotes the leading coefficient of ff and disc(f)\text{disc}(f) its discriminant.

The discriminant of a genus 2 curve over Q\Q is the discriminant of a minimal equation for the curve; it is an invariant of the curve that does not depend on the choice of minimal equation.

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