Algebra (Q5917767)

The first edition of this textbook appeared three years ago (1993; Zbl 0781.00001). Since then, this introductory text on basic algebra has become quite popular with the German-speaking student of mathematics, mainly on account of its protrusive instructional features. The user-friendly style, in particular the skillfully arranged combination of historical background material, problem-oriented motivations, classical topics, modern conceptual theories, and outlooks to further applications of algebraic methods in geometry and number theory, has made this textbook into a valuable addition to the plenty of already existing standard books on modern algebra. The huge amount of carefully selected exercises, which very often reflect the informal, challenging discussions as they appear in classroom or exam situations, together with the comprehensive hints to their solutions, enhance the utility of this text for students in a rewarding manner. The present second edition of the book shows one essential, methodical modification over the original version. Namely, the section on the Sylow theorems for groups has been completely rewritten. In other respects, the author has (-- apart from minor details and the elimination of misprints --) left the proved text all through intact.