String dualities and toric geometry: An introduction

This note is supposed to be an introduction to those concepts of toric geometry that are necessary to understand applications in the context of string and F-theory dualities. The presentation is based on the definition of a toric variety in terms of homogeneous coordinates stressing the analogy with weighted projective spaces. We try to give both intuitive pictures and precise rules that should enable the reader to work with the concepts presented here. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.