The title alludes to a similar title of the paper [3] by Grunewald and Segal, in which it is shown how to solve a quadratic equation in integers. This latter procedure seems to be quite difficult, and the algorithm outlined in [3] is rather involved, although it is completely effective in the logical sense.

Let k be a field of zero characteristic, and let F be a function field over k of genus g. We normalize each valuation v on F so that its order group consists of all rational integers, and for elements u1, …, un of F, not all zero, we define the (projective) height as

The sum formula on F shows that this is really a height on the projective space .

In this paper we continue to develop the apparatus needed for the proof of the theorem announced in (11). We retain the notation of (11) together with the assumptions made there about the field of Abelian functions. This section deals with properties of more general functions holomorphic on Cn. When n = 1 the extrapolation procedure in problems of transcendence is essentially the maximum modulus principle together with the act of dividing out zeros of an analytic function. For n > 1, however, this approach is not possible, and some mild theory of several complex variables is required. This was first used in the context of transcendence by Bombieri and Lang in (2) and (12), and we now give a brief account of the basic constructions of their papers.

Let Λ be a lattice in Cn such that the field of Abelian functions on the quotient space Cn/Λ is of transcendence degree n. This implies that is an algebraic extension of a field o of pure transcendence degree n. Thus there exists a vector A = (A1 …, An) of algebraically independent functions of the variable z = (z1, …, zn) and a function B = B(z), algebraic over

such that

Let Ω be a Riemann matrix whose 2n columns are vectors of Cn. It is well-known (e.g. (10)) that the field of meromorphic functions on Cn with these vectors among their periods is of transcendence degree n over C. More precisely, this field can be written as C(A, B) where A = (A1, …, An) is a vector of algebraically independent functions of the variable z = (z1, …, zn) and B is algebraic over C(A). We shall assume that B is in fact integral of degree d over the ring C[A]. Since the derivatives ∂f/∂zi of a periodic function f(z) are also periodic, the field is mapped into itself by the differential operators ∂/∂zi. Thus there exists a function C(z) in C[A] such that these operators map the ring C[A, B, C−1] into itself.

Let ℘ be a Weierstrass elliptic function satisfying the differential equation

and let ζ(z) be the associated Weierstrass ζ-function satisfying (z) = −℘(z). Corresponding to a pair of fundamental periods ω1, ω2 of ℘(z), there is a pair of quasi-periods η1, η2 of ζ(z) defined by

and we have ηi = 2ζ(ωi/2) for i = 1, 2.