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In this paper we investigate the problem of determining rational parametrizations of plane algebraic curves over an algebraic extension of least degree over the field of definition. This problem reduces to the problem of finding simple points with coordinates in the field of definition on algebraic curves of genus 0. Consequently we are also able to decide parametrizability over the reals. We generalize a classical theorem of Hilbert and Hurwitz about birational transformations. An efficient algorithm for computing such optimal parametrizations is presented.

Let K be a characteristic zero field, let ϕ(t) be a birational parametrization ϕ(t) of a K-definable curve C with coefficients in an algebraic extension K(α) over K. We propose an algorithm to solve the optimization problem of computing the affine reparametrization t→at+b such that ϕ(at+b) has coefficients over an extension of K with algebraic degree as small as possible.