Review

Author(s): E. A. Maxwell
Review by: E. A. Maxwell
Source: The Mathematical Gazette, Vol. 54, No. 389 (Oct., 1970), p. 306
Published by: Mathematical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3613812
Accessed: 11-02-2016 20:14 UTC

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306 THE MATHEMATICAL GAZETTE'

It must not be thought, though, that this is Algebra without Tears; the
material is substantial, as the Chapter headings show:
Groups and Fields; Vector spaces; Linear Transformations; Rank and
Nullity; Linear Equations; Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors; Euclidean and
Unitary Spaces; Orthogonal and Unitary; Quadratic and Hermitian Forms,
Simultaneous reduction of two Forms.
E. A. MAXWELL

An Introduction to Abstract Algebra. By DENNIS B. AMES. Pp. x, 368.

95s. 1969. (International textbook company, Pennsylvania.)
The text is so arranged that six chapters can be used, in whole or in part,
as a first course, the rest being more advanced. The book, as the cover says,
is "a standard modern algebra text with some additional topics". Indeed,
there they are: Groups, Vector Spaces and all, surmounted by chapters on
Algebra; Field Theory and Galois Theory; Homological Algebra; Elementary
Structure Theory of Rings.
There is a list of Supplementary Reading and one of Advanced Reading;
also numerous illustrative examples and many Exercises. Several of the
Exercises are of the "Prove that ..." type, but no answers are given for the
others. This, I feel, is rather hard on the beginner faced (p. 10) with ten
exercises, "which of the following mappings of Z -* Z are injective or surjective
or bijective? (a) n -*|n; ...; (h) n -n! for n > 0 and n --n for n < 0."
His answers to all may be "Dejective"!
Apart from this (serious) blemish, the book should prove useful, though not
cheap.
E. A. MAXWELL

Excursions in Geometry. By C. STANLEY OGILVY. Pp. vi, 178. 52s.

1970. (Oxford University Press.)
Members of the Mathematical Association will have no difficulty in recog-
nising the theme of the opening sentences:
"What is Geometry? One young lady, when asked this question, answered
without hesitation, 'Oh, that is the subject in which we proved things'. When
pressed to give an example of one of the 'things' proved, she was unable to
do so."
This book sets out to catch the imagination, and to ensure that interest in
many features of what I should like to call genuine geometry is indeed sus-
tained.
Among familiar themes, we have chapters on harmonic division and
Apollonian circles, the conic sections, projective geometry. Less familiar in
this kind of context are inversive geometry, various unsolved problems and
Soddy's hexlet. For the last of these, you must get the book (for your library
at least): "a necklace of spheres, all tangent to three given spheres, and
each tangent to two neighbors in the chain."
Readers of my generation will remember the question, "Is your journey
really necessary?" For members of this Association, heir to the Association for
the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching, the answer must be "yes."
E. A. MAXWELL

GeometricInequalities. By 0. BOTTEMA,R. z. DJORDJEVIC,R. R. JANIC,

D. S. MITRINOVIC, P. M. VASIC. Pp. 151. $4.90. 1969. (Wolters-Noord-
hoff, Groningen.)

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