ABSTRACT
The torsion points, namely those whose orders are finite, play an important role in the study of elliptic curves. We’ll see this in Chapter 4 for elliptic curves over finite fields, where all points are torsion points, and in Chapter 8, where we use 2-torsion points in a procedure known as descent. In the present chapter, we first consider the elementary cases of 2-and 3-torsion, then determine the general situation. Finally, we discuss the important Weil and Tate-Lichtenbaum pairings.
