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Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book, it took me years to write, will you
take a look?
JOHN LENNON AND PAUL MCCARTNEY, Paperback Writer, single
Although I wrote the first edition of this book more than twenty years
ago, my goals for it remain the same. I want students to receive a solid
introduction to the traditional topics. I want readers to come away with
the view that abstract algebra is a contemporary subjectthat its concepts and methodologies are being used by working mathematicians,
computer scientists, physicists, and chemists. I want students to enjoy
reading the book. To this end, I have included lines from popular songs,
poems, quotations, biographies, historical notes, dozens of photographs,
hundreds of figures, numerous tables and charts, and reproductions of
stamps and currency that honor mathematicians. I want students to be
able to do computations and to write proofs. Accordingly, I have
included an abundance of exercises to develop both skills.
Changes for the seventh edition include 120 new exercises, new
theorems and examples, and a freshening of the quotations and biographies. I have also expanded the supplemental material for abstract algebra available at my website.
These changes accentuate and enhance the hallmark features that
have made previous editions of the book a comprehensive, lively, and
engaging introduction to the subject:
Extensive coverage of groups, rings, and fields, plus a variety of
non-traditional special topics
A good mixture of now more than 1750 computational and theoretical exercises appearing in each chapter and in Supplementary
Exercise sets that synthesize concepts from multiple chapters
Worked-out examplesnow totaling 275providing thorough
practice for key concepts
Computer exercises performed using interactive software available
on my website
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Preface