Estimates of the number of singular points of a complex hypersurface and related questions

It is well known that the number of isolated singular points of a hypersurface of degree d in ℂP^m does not exceed the Arnol’d number A_m(d), which is defined in combinatorial terms. In the paper it is proved that if b _m−1 ^± (d) are the inertia indices of the intersection form of a nonsingular hypersurface of degree d in ℂP^m, then the inequality A_m(d)<min{b _m−1 ⁺ (d), b _m−1 ⁻ (d)} holds if and only if (m−5)(d−2)≥18 and (m,d)≠(7,12). The table of the Arnol’d numbers for 3≤m≤14, 3≤d≤17 and for 3≤m≤14, d=18, 19 is given. Bibliography: 6 titles. Translated fromZapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 231, 1995, pp. 180–190. Translated by O. A. Ivanov and N. Yu. Netsvetev.