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In number theory and algebraic geometry, a modular curve Y is a Riemann surface, or the corresponding algebraic curve, constructed as a quotient of the complex upper half-plane H by the action of a congruence subgroup Γ of the modular group of integral 2×2 matrices SL. The term modular curve can also be used to refer to the compactified modular curves X which are compactifications obtained by adding finitely many points to this quotient. The points of a modular curve parametrize isomorphism classes of elliptic curves, together with some additional structure depending on the group Γ. This interpretation allows one to give a purely algebraic definition of modular curves, without reference to complex numbers, and, moreover, prove that modular curves are defined either over the field of rational numbers Q or a cyclotomic field Q. The latter fact and its generalizations are of fundamental importance in number theory.