Rationality of the offsets to algebraic curves and surfaces

A simple method is developed to identify the rationality of offsets to algebraic curves and surfaces which are given either implicitly or parametrically and to parametrize the offsets of they are rational. In particular, we show that offsets to ellipses and hyperbolas are ofnonzero genus except for the circles, and somewhat surprisingly, that offsets to paraboloids and hyperboloids with one sheet can all be rationally parametrized.