Let X subset of P-C' be a smooth variety of dimension n and degree d. There
is a well-known conjecture concerning the k-regularity, saying that X is k
-regular if k greater than or equal to d - r + n + 1. We prove that X is k-
regular if k greater than or equal to d - r + n + 1 + (n - 2)(n - 1)/2 when
n less than or equal to 14 (or, more generally, when X admits a general pr
ojection in Pn+1 which is "good"), recovering the known results for curves,
surfaces, threefolds (when r > 5), and improving the known results for fou
rfolds and higher-dimensional varieties of codimension > 2. (C) 2000 Elsevi
er Science B.V. All rights reserved.