If V is an irreducible variety and W is an irreducible simple subvariety of V, then one of the properties of the quotient ring of W in V is that it is a unique factorization domain. A proof of this theorem has been given by Zariski ((2), Theorem 5, p. 22), based on the structure theorems for complete local rings, and the fact that the local rings which arise geometrically are always analytically unramified. Here the theorem is deduced from certain properties of functions and their divisors which will be established by entirely different considerations. The terminology which will be employed is that proposed by A. Weil in his book(1), and we shall use, for instance, F-viii, Th. 3, Cor. 1, when referring to Corollary 1 of the third theorem in Chapter 8. Before proceeding to details it should be noted that Weil and Zariski differ in then-definitions, and that in particular the terms ‘variety’ and ‘simple point’ do not mean quite the same in the two theories. The effect of this is to make Zariski's result somewhat stronger than Theorem 3 of this paper.
Valuations and local uniformization