No label defined (Q4211928)

This book is a very elementary introduction to the mathematics of coding theory, intended for students with practically no mathematical background. The first two chapters give the motivation and set the scene in a very relaxed way. The mathematics that is needed to introduce some algebraic coding theory is treated in separate chapters on elementary number theory and on polynomial rings. The only finite fields that are used are of prime order (and mostly only binary and ternary codes occur). The general theory covers block codes, linear codes (with MacWilliams' Theorem) and cyclic codes (an introduction). The only families that are treated (extensively) are the Hamming codes and the Reed-Muller codes. The reader can participate actively by doing the many exercises which are actually an integral part of the text. Hints and solutions are provided at the end of the book. To give an idea of the pace: the same material covers about 30 pages in the reviewer's (notoriously terse) book on Coding Theory [3rd ed. Springer 1999; see the review of the 1st ed. (1982; Zbl 0485.94015)]. It is somewhat surprising that an author who takes so much care to give a clear exposition ignores several standard rules of mathematical notation.