A First Course

in Abstract Algebra
Rings, Groups, and Fields
Second Edition
 A First Course
in Abstract Algebra
Rings, Groups, and Fields
Second Edition

Marlow Anderson
Todd Feil

Boca Raton London New York Singapore

CRC Press
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Contents

Preface xiii

I Numbers, Polynomials, and Factoring

1 The Natural Numbers 3

1.1 Operations on the Natural Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Well Ordering and Mathematical Induction . . . . . . . 4
1.3 The Fibonacci Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 Well Ordering Implies Mathematical Induction . . . . . 9
1.5 The Axiomatic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2 The Integers 15
2.1 The Division Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 The Greatest Common Divisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 The GCD Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4 The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic . . . . . . . . 22
2.5 A Geometric Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3 Modular Arithmetic 31
3.1 Residue Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.2 Arithmetic on the Residue Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3 Properties of Modular Arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4 Polynomials with Rational Coefficients 41

4.1 Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.2 The Algebra of Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.3 The Analogy between Z and Q[x] . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.4 Factors of a Polynomial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.5 Linear Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.6 Greatest Common Divisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

v
vi

5 Factorization of Polynomials 55
5.1 Factoring Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2 Unique Factorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.3 Polynomials with Integer Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . 59

Section I in a Nutshell 69

II Rings, Domains, and Fields

6 Rings 73
6.1 Binary Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.2 Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.3 Arithmetic in a Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.4 Notational Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.5 The Set of Integers is a Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

7 Subrings and Unity 89

7.1 Subrings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7.2 The Multiplicative Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

8 Integral Domains and Fields 101

8.1 Zero Divisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
8.2 Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
8.3 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.4 The Field of Complex Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.5 Finite Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

9 Polynomials over a Field 119

9.1 Polynomials with Coefficients from an Arbitrary Field . 119
9.2 Polynomials with Complex Coefficients . . . . . . . . . 121
9.3 Irreducibles in R[x] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
9.4 Extraction of Square Roots in C . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Section II in a Nutshell 135

III Unique Factorization

10 Associates and Irreducibles 141

10.1 Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
10.2 Irreducibles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
10.3 Quadratic Extensions of the Integers . . . . . . . . . . 144
 vii

10.4 Units in Quadratic Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

10.5 Irreducibles in Quadratic Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . 149

11 Factorization and Ideals 155

11.1 Factorization for Quadratic Extensions . . . . . . . . . 155
11.2 How Might Factorization Fail? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
11.3 Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
11.4 Principal Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

12 Principal Ideal Domains 169

12.1 Ideals that are not Principal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
12.2 Principal Ideal Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

13 Primes and Unique Factorization 177

13.1 Primes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
13.2 UFDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
13.3 Expressing Properties
√ of Elements in Terms of Ideals . 180
13.4 Ideals in Z[ −5] . . . . . . . . √ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
13.5 A Comparison between Z and Z[ −5] . . . . . . . . . 183
13.6 All PIDs are UFDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

14 Polynomials with Integer Coefficients 189

14.1 The Proof that Q[x] is a UFD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
14.2 Factoring Integers out of Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . 190
14.3 The Content of a Polynomial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
14.4 Irreducibles in Z[x] are Prime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

15 Euclidean Domains 197

15.1 Euclidean Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
15.2 The Gaussian Integers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
15.3 Euclidean Domains are PIDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
15.4 Some PIDs are not Euclidean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Section III in a Nutshell 207

IV Ring Homomorphisms and Ideals

16 Ring Homomorphisms 211

16.1 Homomorphisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
16.2 One-to-one and Onto Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
16.3 Properties Preserved by Homomorphisms . . . . . . . . 215
viii

16.4 More Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

16.5 Making a Homomorphism Onto . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

17 The Kernel 225

17.1 Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
17.2 The Kernel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
17.3 The Kernel is an Ideal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
17.4 All Pre-images Can Be Obtained from the Kernel . . . 229
17.5 When is the Kernel Trivial? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
17.6 A Summary and Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

18 Rings of Cosets 237

18.1 The Ring of Cosets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
18.2 The Natural Homomorphism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

19 The Isomorphism Theorem for Rings 247

19.1 Isomorphism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
19.2 The Fundamental Isomorphism Theorem . . . . . . . . 249
19.3 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

20 Maximal and Prime Ideals 259

20.1 Maximal Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
20.2 Prime Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

21 The Chinese Remainder Theorem 271

21.1 Direct Products of Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
21.2 Chinese Remainder Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Section IV in a Nutshell 283

V Groups

22 Symmetries of Figures in the Plane 287

22.1 Symmetries of the Equilateral Triangle . . . . . . . . . 287
22.2 Permutation Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
22.3 Matrix Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
22.4 Symmetries of the Square . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

23 Symmetries of Figures in Space 299

23.1 Symmetries of the Regular Tetrahedron . . . . . . . . . 300
23.2 Symmetries of the Cube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
 ix

24 Abstract Groups 313

24.1 Definition of Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
24.2 Examples of Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
24.3 Multiplicative Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

25 Subgroups 329
25.1 Arithmetic in an Abstract Group . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
25.2 Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
25.3 Subgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
25.4 Characterization of Subgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

26 Cyclic Groups 339

26.1 The Order of an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
26.2 Rule of Exponents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
26.3 Cyclic Subgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
26.4 Cyclic Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Section V in a Nutshell 353

VI Group Homomorphisms and Permutations

27 Group Homomorphisms 357

27.1 Homomorphisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
27.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
27.3 Direct Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

28 Group Isomorphisms 367

28.1 Structure Preserved by Homomorphisms . . . . . . . . 368
28.2 Uniqueness of Cyclic Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
28.3 Symmetry Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
28.4 Characterizing Direct Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

29 Permutations and Cayley’s Theorem 379

29.1 Permutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
29.2 The Symmetric Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
29.3 Cayley’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

30 More About Permutations 389

30.1 Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
30.2 Cycle Factorization of Permutations . . . . . . . . . . . 391
30.3 Orders of Permutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
x

31 Cosets and Lagrange’s Theorem 399

31.1 Cosets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
31.2 Lagrange’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
31.3 Applications of Lagrange’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . 404

32 Groups of Cosets 413

32.1 Left Cosets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
32.2 Normal Subgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
32.3 Examples of Groups of Cosets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

33 The Isomorphism Theorem for Groups 425

33.1 The Kernel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
33.2 Cosets of the Kernel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
33.3 The Fundamental Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

34 The Alternating Groups 435

34.1 Transpositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
34.2 The Parity of a Permutation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
34.3 The Alternating Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
34.4 The Alternating Subgroup is Normal . . . . . . . . . . 439
34.5 Simple Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

35 Fundamental Theorem for Finite Abelian Groups 449

35.1 The Fundamental Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
35.2 p-groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

36 Solvable Groups 455

36.1 Solvability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
36.2 New Solvable Groups from Old . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Section VI in a Nutshell 461

VII Constructibility Problems

37 Constructions with Compass and Straightedge 465

37.1 Construction Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
37.2 Constructible Lengths and Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . 467

38 Constructibility and Quadratic Field Extensions 475

38.1 Quadratic Field Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
38.2 Sequences of Quadratic Field Extensions . . . . . . . . 477
 xi

38.3 The Rational Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

38.4 Planes of Constructible Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
38.5 The Constructible Number Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . 484

39 The Impossibility of Certain Constructions 489

39.1 Doubling the Cube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
39.2 Trisecting the Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
39.3 Squaring the Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Section VII in a Nutshell 499

VIII Vector Spaces and Field Extensions

40 Vector Spaces I 503

40.1 Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
40.2 Vector Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

41 Vector Spaces II 511

41.1 Spanning Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
41.2 A Basis for a Vector Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
41.3 Finding a Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
41.4 Dimension of a Vector Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

42 Field Extensions and Kronecker’s Theorem 527

42.1 Field Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
42.2 Kronecker’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
42.3 The Characteristic of a Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

43 Algebraic Field Extensions 537

43.1 The Minimal Polynomial for an Element . . . . . . . . 537
43.2 Simple Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
43.3 Simple Transcendental Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
43.4 Dimension of Simple Algebraic Extensions . . . . . . . 545

44 Finite Extensions and Constructibility Revisited 551

44.1 Finite Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
44.2 Constructibility Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

Section VIII in a Nutshell 561

xii

IX Galois Theory

45 The Splitting Field 565

45.1 The Splitting Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
45.2 Fields with Characteristic Zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

46 Finite Fields 577

46.1 Existence and Uniqueness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
46.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

47 Galois Groups 585

47.1 The Galois Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
47.2 Galois Groups of Splitting Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

48 The Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory 599

48.1 Subgroups and Subfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
48.2 Symmetric Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
48.3 The Fixed Field and Normal Extensions . . . . . . . . . 602
48.4 The Fundamental Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
48.5 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

49 Solving Polynomials by Radicals 615

49.1 Field Extensions by Radicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
49.2 Refining the Root Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
49.3 Solvable Galois Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Section IX in a Nutshell 629

Hints and Solutions 633

Guide to Notation 661

Index 665
Preface

Traditionally, a first course in abstract algebra introduces groups, rings,

and fields, in that order. In contrast, we have chosen to develop ring
theory first, in order to draw upon the student’s familiarity with inte-
gers and with polynomials, which we use as the motivating examples
for studying rings.
This approach has worked well for us in motivating students in the
study of abstract algebra and in showing them the power of abstrac-
tion. Our students have found the process of abstraction easier to
understand, when they have more familiar examples to base it upon.
We introduce groups later on, again by first looking at concrete exam-
ples, in this case symmetries of figures in the plane and space. By this
time students are more experienced, and they handle the abstraction
much more easily. Indeed, these parts of the text move quite quickly,
which initially surprised (and pleased) the authors.
There is more material here than can be used in one semester. Those
teaching a one-semester course may choose among various topics they
might wish to include. There is sufficient material in this text for a
two-semester course, probably more, in most cases. The text is divided
into large sections (numbered with Roman numerals), each containing
a number of short chapters (numbered with Arabic numerals). Each
chapter is in turn divided into subsections, which are numbered us-
ing a decimal system: 38.2 is the second subsection of Chapter 38.
Within a given chapter each mathematical statement (theorem, lemma
or proposition) is numbered consecutively in decimal style, to make
cross referencing easy. The examples in a chapter are also numbered
consecutively in the same style. Cross references to exercises are done
in the same way: Exercise 38.2 refers to the second exercise in Chapter
38.
The diagram below indicates the dependency of the large sections.

xiii
xiv Preface

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.
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..................................................... ...................................................................................................................
I II ..
V .......
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... ....... .......
... ....... ......
....... .. ..........
... .......... ....................
... ..
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... ..........................
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... IV ..
............................. . . . . . . .. .
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.
VI
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VII VIII IX

Section I (Numbers, Polynomials, and Factoring) introduces the in-

tegers Z, and the polynomials Q[x] over the rationals. In both cases
we emphasize the idea of factoring into irreducibles, pointing out the
structural similarities. We also introduce the rings of integers modulo
n in this section. Induction, the most important proof technique used
in the early part of this text, is introduced in Chapter 1.
In Section II (Rings, Domains, and Fields) we define a ring as the
abstract concept encompassing our specific examples from Section I. We
define integral domains and fields and then look at polynomials over
an arbitrary field. We make the point that the important properties
of Q[x] are really due to the fact that we have coefficients from a field;
this gives students a nice example of the power of abstraction.
In Section III (Unique Factorization) we explore more general con-
texts in which unique factorization is possible. Along the way, we
introduce the important notion of ideal of a commutative ring. We
find that some experience with ideals, prior to encountering the Fun-
damental Isomorphism Theorem, helps make that difficult topic more
understandable. Chapter 13 concludes with the theorem that every
principal ideal domain is a unique factorization domain. In the interest
of time, many instructors may wish to skip the last two chapters of this
section.
Section IV (Ring Homomorphisms and Ideals) has as its main goal
the proof of the Fundamental Isomorphism Theorem. This section does
not logically depend upon Section III, but we much prefer that students
first encounter the notion of ideal in the first few chapters of Section
III. Section IV also includes a chapter about the connection between
maximal ideals and fields, and prime ideals and domains. There is also
an optional chapter on the Chinese Remainder Theorem.
Section V (Groups) begins with two chapters on symmetries, those
in the plane and those in space, in order to give students some concrete
examples of non-abelian groups. We then define abstract groups. By
 Preface xv

this time, students have some experience with abstract algebra, and
so the instructor should find this part of the text moves fairly quickly,
with students anticipating results and ideas.
Section VI (Permutations and Group Homomorphisms) does enough
permutation group theory to give students plenty of groups to compute
with and has as one of its goals the Fundamental Isomorphism Theorem
for groups. The last three chapters are largely optional, unless you wish
to include Section IX.
Section VII (Constructibility Problems and Field Extensions) is an
optional section that is a great example of the power of abstract algebra.
In it, we show that the three Greek constructibility problems using a
compass and straightedge are impossible. This section does not use
Kronecker’s Theorem and is very computational in flavor. It does not
depend on knowing any group theory and can be taught immediately
after Section IV, if the instructor wishes to delay the introduction of
groups.
We revisit the impossibility proofs in Section VIII (Vector Spaces
and Field Extensions), where we give enough vector space theory to
introduce students to the theory of algebraic field extensions. Seeing
the impossibility proofs again, in a more abstract context, emphasizes
the power of abstract field theory.
Section IX develops Galois Theory with the goal of showing the im-
possibility of solving the quintic with radicals. This section depends
heavily on Section VIII, as well as Chapters 34 and 36.
Each chapter includes Quick Exercises, which are intended to be done
by the student as the text is read (or perhaps on the second reading)
to make sure the topic just covered is understood. Quick Exercises are
typically straightforward, rather short verifications of facts just stated
that act to reinforce the information just presented. They also act as
an early warning to the student that something basic was missed. We
often use some of them as a basis for in-class discussion. The exercises
following each chapter begin with the Warm-up Exercises, which test
fundamental comprehension and should be done by all students. These
are followed by the regular exercises, which include both computational
problems and supply-the-proof problems. Answers to most exercises
that do not require proof are given in the Hints and Answers section.
Hints to many problems are also given there.
Historical remarks follow many of the chapters. For the most part we
try to make use of the history of algebra to make certain pedagogical
xvi Preface

points. We find that students enjoy finding out a bit about the history
of the subject, and how long it took for some of the concepts of abstract
algebra to evolve. We’ve relied on such authors as Boyer & Merzbach,
Eves, Burton, Kline, and Katz for this material.
We find that in a first (or second) course, students lose track of the
forest, getting bogged down in the details of new material. With this
in mind, we’ve ended each section with a short synopsis that we’ve
called a “Nutshell” in which we’ve laid out the important definitions
and theorems developed in that section, sometimes in an order slightly
altered from the text. It’s a way for the student to organize their
thoughts on the material and see what the major points were, in case
they missed them the first time through.
We include an appendix entitled “Guide to Notation”, which provides
a list of mathematical notations used in the book, and citations to
where they are introduced in the text. We group the notations together
conceptually. There is also a complete index, which will enable readers
to find theorems, definitions and biographical citations easily in the
text.
There are a couple of suggested tracks through the text. One way we
use the book, for a one-semester course, is to tackle Sections I through
VI (except Chapters 14, 15, 21, 34, 35, and 36). If time permits, we
either include some of those skipped chapters or Section VII.
For a more leisurely pace, covering less material, one might use Sec-
tions I, II, and Sections IV through VI, except Chapter 21. (This has
the disadvantage of missing our first discussion of ideals in Chapters 11
and 12, but that just gives a bit less motivation to Section IV, which
isn’t a big problem.) One could also use this basic track with Section
VII or selected topics from Section VIII.
A second semester could pick up wherever the first semester left off
with the goal of completing Section IX on Galois Theory.
We assume that the students using the text have had the usual cal-
culus sequence; this is mostly an assumption of a little mathematical
maturity, since we only occasionally make any real use of the calcu-
lus. We do not assume any familiarity with linear algebra, although it
would be helpful. We regularly use the multiplication of 2 × 2 matrices,
mostly as an example of a non-commutative operation; we find that a
short in-class discussion of this (perhaps supplemented with some of
our exercises) is sufficient even for students who’ve never seen matrices
before. We make heavy use of complex numbers in the text but do not
 Preface xvii

assume any prior acquaintance with them; our introduction to them in

Chapter 8 should be quite adequate.
This book is a substantial revision of the first edition, which appeared
in 1995. We have carefully edited the entire manuscript and added
many exercises throughout the book; we’re grateful for the readers of
the first edition who pointed out various typographical and mathemat-
ical errors. The major change in the book is the addition of Section IX
about Galois theory, which follows naturally from our discussion of field
extensions in Section VIII. As a requirement for Section IX, we have
also added a new chapter on solvable groups (Chapter 36). We have
deleted the last section of the earlier edition, which consisted of several
unrelated applications, although we have included a revised version of
the finite fields chapter (Chapter 46) from that edition. We have also
added Nutshells for this edition.

Acknowledgments
Each of us has spent twenty-five years studying, reading, teaching
and doing scholarship in abstract algebra, and thinking about the un-
dergraduate course in this subject. Over the course of that time we
have been influenced importantly by many textbooks on the subject.
These books have inspired us to think about what topics to include,
the order in which they might be presented, and techniques of proof
and presentation. Both of us took courses from I. N. Herstein’s text
Topics in Algebra. We’ve had many occasions to look into the classic
works by Van der Waerden and Jacobson. We’ve taught and learned
from texts by such authors as Goldstein, Fraleigh, Burton and Gallian.
Burton’s text on elementary number theory and the Maxwells’ little
book on Galois theory have also been important. We offer our thanks
here to those mentioned, and the many influences on our approach we
cannot trace.
We owe considerable gratitude to the many people who have helped
us in writing this book. We have discussed this book informally with
many of our colleagues, immeasurably shaping the final product. Spe-
cial mention should be made of Mike Westmoreland and Robin Wilson,
who gave parts of the original manuscript a close reading. The charts
and diagrams in Chapter 23 owe their origin to handouts prepared
by C. C. Edwards. We’re grateful to our respective institutions (The
Colorado College and Denison University), which provided financial
support to this project at various crucial stages.
xviii Preface

Most of all, we thank Audrey and Robin, for putting up with the
years of phone calls and e-mail that went into this book! Their moral
support was (and is) indispensable.

Marlow Anderson
Mathematics Department
The Colorado College
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
(719) 389-6543
manderson@coloradocollege.edu

Todd Feil
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Denison University
Granville, OH 43023
(740) 587-6248
feil@denison.edu
 I

Numbers, Polynomials,
and Factoring