In mathematics, in particular the subfield of algebraic geometry, a rational map is a kind of partial function between algebraic varieties. This article uses the convention that varieties are irreducible.
Formally, a rational map between two varieties is an equivalence class of pairs in which is a morphism of varieties from an open set to , and two such pairs and are considered equivalent if and coincide on the intersection (this is, in particular, vacuously true if the intersection is empty, but since is assumed irreducible, this is impossible). The proof that this defines an equivalence relation relies on the following lemma: