A FIRST GRADUATE COURSE

IN ABSTRACT ALGEBRA

W. J. Wickless
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut, U.S.A.

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MARCEL

MARCEL DEKKER, INC. N E W YORK • BASEL

Contents
Preface iii
Part 1
Chapter 1 Groups (mostly finite)
1.1 Definitions, examples, elementary properties 1
1.2 Subgroups, cyclic groups 6
1.3 Factorization in Z 10
First Problem Set 11
1.4 Isomorphism 13
Second Problem Set 14
1.5 Homomorphisms 15
Third Problem Set 17
1.6 Normal subgroups and factor groups 17
Fourth Problem Set 22
1.7 Simple groups and composition series 22
Fifth Problem Set 25
1.8 Symmetric groups 25
Sixth Problem Set 30
1.9 Conjugacy classes, p-groups, solvable groups 31
Seventh Problem Set 34
1.10 Direct products 34
Eighth Problem Set 37
1.11 Sylow theorems 37
Ninth Problem Set 43
1.12 The structure of finite abelian groups 43
Tenth Problem Set 47

Chapter 2 Rings (mostly domains)

2.1 Definitions and elementary properties 49
Eleventh Problem Set 53
2.2 Homomorphisms, ideals and factor rings 54
Twelfth Problem Set 58
2.3 Principal ideal domains 59
Thirteenth Problem Set 62
2.4 Polynomials 62
Fourteenth Problem Set 68
2.5 I[x] is a ufd* 70
Fifteenth Problem Set 70
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2.6 Euclidean domains* 70

Sixteenth Problem Set 73

Chapter 3 Modules
3.1 Elementary concepts 75
Seventeenth Problem Set 78
3.2 Free and projective modules 78
Eighteenth Problem Set 81
3.3 Tensor products 82
Nineteenth Problem Set 86
3.4 Finitely generated modules over a pid 86
Twentieth Problem Set 89
3.5 A structure theorem 89
Twenty-first Problem Set 93

Chapter 4 Vector Spaces

4.1 Definitions and glossary 95
4.2 Time for a little set theory 96
4.3 A structure theorem for vector spaces 98
Twenty-second Problem Set 102
4.4 Finite remarks on finite dimensional vector spaces 102
Twenty-third Problem Set 104
4.5 Matrices and systems of equations 105
Twenty-fourth Problem Set 109
4.6 Linear transformations and matrices 109
Twenty-fifth Problem Set 113
4.7 Determinants 114
Twenty-sixth Problem Set 120
4.8 Characteristic values, vectors, basis change 120
Twenty-seventh Problem Set 125
4.9 Canonical forms 126
Twenty-eighth Problem Set 132
4.10 Dual spaces* 133
Twenty-ninth Problem Set 134
4.11 Inner product spaces* 134
Thirtieth Problem Set 137
4.12 Linear functionals and adjoints* 138
Thirty-first Problem Set 142
CONTENTS vii

Part 2
Chapter 5 Fields and Galois theory
5.1 Preliminary results 143
Thirty-second Problem Set 145
5.2 Straight edge and compass construction 146
Thirty-third Problem Set 149
5.3 Splitting fields 149
Thirty-fourth Problem Set 154
5.4 The algebraic closure of a field* 154
Thirty-fifth Problem Set 156
5.5 A structure theorem for finite fields 157
Thirty-sixth Problem Set 157
5.6 The Galois correspondence 157
Thirty-seventh Problem Set 166
5.7 Galois criterion for radical solvability 167
Thirty-eighth Problem Set 172
5.8 The general equation of degree n 173
Thirty-ninth Problem Set 174

Chapter 6 Topics in noncommutative rings

6.1 Introduction 175
6.2 Simple modules 176
Fortieth Problem Set 177
6.3 The Jacobson Radical 177
Forty-first Problem Set 180
6.4 The Jacobson Density Theorem 181
6.5 Semisimple Artinian rings 183
Forty-second Problem Set 186
6.6 Structure of complex group algebras 187
6.7 Applications to finite groups 189
Forty-third Problem Set 190

Chapter 7 Group extensions

7.1 Introduction 191
7.2 Exact sequences and ZG-modules 191
Forty-fourth Problem Set 195
7.3 Semidirect products 195
Forty-fifth Problem Set 197
7.4 Extensions and factor sets 198
Forty-sixth Problem Set 200
7.5 Solution of the extension problem 201
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CONTENTS

Forty-seventh Problem Set 204

Chapter 8 Topics in abelian groups

8.1 Direct sums and products 207
Forty-eighth Problem Set 208
8.2 Structure theorem for divisible groups 208
Forty-ninth Problem Set 211
8.3 Rank one torsion-free groups 211
Fiftieth Problem Set 213
8.4 Structure of completely decomposable groups 214
Fifty-first Problem Set 215
8.4 Algebraically compact groups 215
Fifty-second Problem Set 219
8.5 Structure of algebraically compact groups 220
Fifty-third Problem Set 223
8.6 Structure of countable torsion groups 223
Fifty-fourth Problem Set 228

References 229

Index 230