Introduction

This book is neither an introductory manual nor a reference manual for Magma. Those needs are
met by the books An Introduction to Magma and Handbook of Magma Functions. Even the most
keen inductive learners will not learn all there is to know about Magma from the present work.
What Solving Problems with Magma does offer is a large collection of real-world algebraic problems,
solved using the Magma language and intrinsics. It is hoped that by studying these examples,
especially those in your specialty, you will gain a practical understanding of how to express math-
ematical problems in Magma terms. Most of the examples have arisen from genuine research
questions, some of which the other computer algebra systems on the market cannot handle well,
and a few which stretch Magma to its limit too. If you are trying the examples on your own
Magma, be warned that some of the examples require significant CPU time and/or storage space
to complete their execution.
We thank all those who have contributed examples. Some are older problems, solved with
Magma’s predecessor Cayley. Others are new ones that exploit Magma’s ability to straddle
all aspects of algebra. We welcome comments on this book and submissions of new approaches
that you think might advantage other mathematicians.

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