THE STRUCTURE OF THE TANGENT CONE: AN INTERESTING BIJECTION#.

Let X = Spec ( R ) be a reduced equidimensional algebraic variety over an algebraically closed field k . Let Y = Spec ( R /??) be a codimension one ordinary multiple subvariety, where ?? is a prime ideal of height 1 of R . If U is a nonempty open subset of Y and ?? a closed point of U , we denote by A ? R ?? its local ring in X , by ?? the extension of ?? in A , and by K the algebraic closure of the residue field k (??). Then there exists a bijection ? ?? : Proj ( G ?? ( A ) ? A /?? k ) ? Proj ( G ( A ?? ) ? k (?? ) K ) such that for every subset S of Proj ( G ?? ( A ) ? A /?? k ), the Hilbert function of S coincides with the Hilbert function of ? ?? (S). We examine some applications. We study the structure of the tangent cone at a closed point of a codimension one ordinary multiple subvariety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]