The Hardy–Littlewood circle method was invented over a century ago to study integer solutions to special Diophantine equations, but it has since proven to be one of the most successful all-purpose tools available to number theorists. Not only is it capable of handling remarkably general systems of polynomial equations defined over arbitrary global fields, but it can also shed light on the space of rational curves that lie on algebraic varieties.  This book, in which the arithmetic of cubic polynomials takes centre stage, is aimed at bringing beginning graduate students into contact with...