Lemma 37.45.5. Let f : X \to S be a flat, locally of finite presentation, separated, and locally quasi-finite morphism of schemes. Then there exist open subschemes
S = U_0 \supset U_1 \supset U_2 \supset \ldots
such that a morphism \mathop{\mathrm{Spec}}(k) \to S where k is a field factors through U_ d if and only if X \times _ S \mathop{\mathrm{Spec}}(k) has degree \geq d over k.
Proof.
The statement simply means that the collection of points where the degree of the fibre is \geq d is open. Thus we can work locally on S and assume S is affine. In this case, for every W \subset X quasi-compact open, the set of points U_ d(W) where the fibres of W \to S have degree \geq d is open by Lemma 37.45.4. Since U_ d = \bigcup _ W U_ d(W) the result follows.
\square
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