A Shorter Proof of Marten's Theorem

Abstract

This note is intended to give a new proof on Marten's theorem stating that $\dim(\wrd) \leq d-2r$ for any smooth curve with equality occurring exactly in the case when C is hyper-elliptic. The proof follows the general lines of the proof given in 'The Geometry of Algebraic Curves'. What is different is that it uses Hopf's theorem to simplify the proof and strengthen the conclusions of the theorem.