The Stacks project

Proof. First proof. By induction on $t$. If $t = 1$ the result follows from Lemma 30.2.2. If $t > 1$ write $X = U \cup V$ with $V$ affine open and $U = U_1 \cup \ldots \cup U_{t - 1}$ a union of $t - 1$ open affines. Note that in this case $U \cap V = (U_1 \cap V) \cup \ldots (U_{t - 1} \cap V)$ is also a union of $t - 1$ affine open subschemes. Namely, since the diagonal is affine, the intersection of two affine opens is affine, see Lemma 30.2.5. We apply the Mayer-Vietoris long exact sequence

see Cohomology, Lemma 20.8.2. By induction we see that the groups $H^ i(U, \mathcal{F})$, $H^ i(V, \mathcal{F})$, $H^ i(U \cap V, \mathcal{F})$ are zero for $i \geq t - 1$. It follows immediately that $H^ i(X, \mathcal{F})$ is zero for $i \geq t$.

Second proof. Let $\mathcal{U} : X = \bigcup _{i = 1}^ t U_ i$ be a finite affine open covering. Since $X$ is has affine diagonal the multiple intersections $U_{i_0 \ldots i_ p}$ are all affine, see Lemma 30.2.5. By Lemma 30.2.6 the Čech cohomology groups $\check{H}^ p(\mathcal{U}, \mathcal{F})$ agree with the cohomology groups. By Cohomology, Lemma 20.23.6 the Čech cohomology groups may be computed using the alternating Čech complex $\check{\mathcal{C}}_{alt}^\bullet (\mathcal{U}, \mathcal{F})$. As the covering consists of $t$ elements we see immediately that $\check{\mathcal{C}}_{alt}^ p(\mathcal{U}, \mathcal{F}) = 0$ for all $p \geq t$. Hence the result follows. $\square$