SF2729 Groups and Rings, 7.5 hp
Course Web Page - Fall 2012/Spring 2013
News
- 14/03
- The final exam has been graded and can be viewed at the studentexpedition. The makeup exam will be on Tuesday June 4, 8am - 1pm
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23/10
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The first lecture of the second part of the course is on January 11, 10-12 in E32. The text book will be A First Course in Abstract Algebra, 7th Edition, by John B. Fraleigh, just as last year. See Information about Part II - Rings for more precise information and homework assignments.
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Contents
Course description
As James Newman once said, algebra is "a branch of
mathematics in which one does something to something and then compares
the results with the result of doing the same thing to something else,
or something else to the same thing".
Abstract algebra is the area of mathematics that
investigates algebraic structures. By defining certain operations on
sets, one can construct more sophisticated objects: groups, rings, and
fields. These operations unify and distinguish objects at the same
time: adding matrices is similar to adding integers, while matrix
multiplication is quite different from multiplication modulo n.
Because structures like groups or rings are richer than sets, we cannot
compare them using only their elements; we have to relate their
operations as well. For this reason group and ring homomorphisms are
defined. These are functions between groups or rings that "respect"
their operations. This type of function is used not only to relate
these objects, but also to build new ones, quotients for example.
Although at this point it may seem like the study of
these new and strange objects is little more than an exercise in a
mathematical fantasy world, the basic results and ideas of abstract
algebra have permeated and are at the foundation of nearly every branch
of mathematics.
This course is divided in two parts:
- Group Theory
- Rings, Fields, and Vector Spaces
Read more here:
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