Bounds on the number of rational points of algebraic hypersurfaces over finite fields, with applications to projective Reed-Muller codes

We present bounds on the number of points in algebraic curves and algebraic hypersurfaces in P-n(F-q) of small degree d, depending on the number of linear components contained in such curves and hypersurfaces. The obtained results have applications to the weight distribution of the projective Reed-Muller codes PRM(q, d, n) over the finite field IFq