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Algebra

From rings to modules to groups to fields, this undergraduate introduction to abstract

algebra follows an unconventional path. The text emphasizes a modern perspective on
the subject, with gentle mentions of the unifying categorical principles underlying the
various constructions and the role of universal properties. A key feature is the treatment
of modules, including a proof of the classification theorem for finitely generated
modules over Euclidean domains. Noetherian modules and some of the language of
exact complexes are introduced. In addition, standard topics—such as the Chinese
Remainder Theorem, the Gauss Lemma, the Sylow Theorems, simplicity of alternating
groups, standard results on field extensions, and the Fundamental Theorem of Galois
Theory—are all treated in detail. Students will appreciate the text’s conversational
style, 400+ exercises, appendix with complete solutions to around 150 of the main text
problems, and appendix with general background on basic logic and naïve set theory.

Paolo Alufi is Professor of Mathematics at Florida State University. Aluffi earned

a Ph.D. from Brown University with a dissertation on the enumerative geometry of
plane cubic curves, under the supervision of William Fulton. His research interests
are in algebraic geometry, particularly intersection theory and its application to the
theory of singularities and connections with theoretical physics. He has authored about
70 research publications and given lectures on his work in 15 countries. Beside Notes
from the Underground, he has published a graduate-level textbook in algebra (Algebra:
Chapter 0, AMS) and a mathematics book for the general public, in Italian (Fare
matematica, Aracne Editrice).

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CAMBRIDGE MATHEMATICAL TEXTBOOKS

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A Second Course in Linear Algebra, S. R. Garcia & R. A. Horn
Introduction to Experimental Mathematics, S. Eilers & R. Johansen
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Algebra
PA O L O A L U F F I
Florida State University

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DOI: 10.1017/9781108955911
© Paolo Aluffi 2021
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Contents

Introduction page ix
Before we Begin xiii

Part I Rings 1

1 The Integers 3
1.1 The Well-Ordering Principle and Induction 3
1.2 ‘Division with Remainder’ in Z 6
1.3 Greatest Common Divisors 7
1.4 The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic 12
Exercises 20

2 Modular Arithmetic 22
2.1 Equivalence Relations and Quotients 22
2.2 Congruence mod n 23
2.3 Algebra in Z/nZ 26
2.4 Properties of the Operations +, · on Z/nZ 29
2.5 Fermat’s Little Theorem, and the RSA Encryption System 34
Exercises 39

3 Rings 41
3.1 Definition and Examples 41
3.2 Basic Properties 47
3.3 Special Types of Rings 51
Exercises 57

4 The Category of Rings 59

4.1 Cartesian Products 59
4.2 Subrings 61
4.3 Ring Homomorphisms 64
4.4 Isomorphisms of Rings 69
Exercises 75

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vi Contents

5 Canonical Decomposition, Quotients, and Isomorphism Theorems 77

5.1 Rings: Canonical Decomposition, I 77
5.2 Kernels and Ideals 79
5.3 Quotient Rings 83
5.4 Rings: Canonical Decomposition, II 89
5.5 The First Isomorphism Theorem 91
5.6 The Chinese Remainder Theorem 93
5.7 The Third Isomorphism Theorem 100
Exercises 103

6 Integral Domains 106

6.1 Prime and Maximal Ideals 106
6.2 Primes and Irreducibles 110
6.3 Euclidean Domains and PIDs 112
6.4 PIDs and UFDs 117
6.5 The Field of Fractions of an Integral Domain 120
Exercises 126

7 Polynomial Rings and Factorization 129

7.1 Fermat’s Last Theorem for Polynomials 129
7.2 The Polynomial Ring with Coefficients in a Field 131
7.3 Irreducibility in Polynomial Rings 136
7.4 Irreducibility in Q[x] and Z[x] 139
7.5 Irreducibility Tests in Z[x] 143
Exercises 148

Part II Modules 151

8 Modules and Abelian Groups 153

8.1 Vector Spaces and Ideals, Revisited 153
8.2 The Category of R-Modules 158
8.3 Submodules, Direct Sums 161
8.4 Canonical Decomposition and Quotients 164
8.5 Isomorphism Theorems 168
Exercises 171

9 Modules over Integral Domains 174

9.1 Free Modules 174
9.2 Modules from Matrices 181
9.3 Finitely Generated vs. Finitely Presented 187
9.4 Vector Spaces are Free Modules 190
9.5 Finitely Generated Modules over Euclidean Domains 193
9.6 Linear Transformations and Modules over k[t] 197
Exercises 199

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Contents vii

10 Abelian Groups 202

10.1 The Category of Abelian Groups 202
10.2 Cyclic Groups, and Orders of Elements 207
10.3 The Classification Theorem 212
10.4 Fermat’s Theorem on Sums of Squares 217
Exercises 223

Part III Groups 227

11 Groups—Preliminaries 229
11.1 Groups and their Category 229
11.2 Why Groups? Actions of a Group 235
11.3 Cyclic, Dihedral, Symmetric, Free Groups 241
11.4 Canonical Decomposition, Normality, and Quotients 253
11.5 Isomorphism Theorems 260
Exercises 264

12 Basic Results on Finite Groups 267

12.1 The Index of a Subgroup, and Lagrange’s Theorem 267
12.2 Stabilizers and the Class Equation 269
12.3 Classification and Simplicity 274
12.4 Sylow’s Theorems: Statements, Applications 276
12.5 Sylow’s Theorems: Proofs 280
12.6 Simplicity of An 282
12.7 Solvable Groups 286
Exercises 289

Part IV Fields 293

13 Field Extensions 295

13.1 Fields and Homomorphisms of Fields 295
13.2 Finite Extensions and the Degree of an Extension 299
13.3 Simple Extensions 301
13.4 Algebraic Extensions 307
13.5 Application: ‘Geometric Impossibilities’ 309
Exercises 314

14 Normal and Separable Extensions, and Splitting Fields 317

14.1 Simple Extensions, Again 317
14.2 Splitting Fields 320
14.3 Normal Extensions 326
14.4 Separable Extensions; and Simple Extensions Once Again 328
14.5 Application: Finite Fields 333
Exercises 337

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viii Contents

15 Galois Theory 340

15.1 Galois Groups and Galois Extensions 340
15.2 Characterization of Galois Extensions 345
15.3 The Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory 350
15.4 Galois Groups of Polynomials 357
15.5 Solving Polynomial Equations by Radicals 361
15.6 Other Applications 370
Exercises 373

Appendix A Background 377

Appendix B Solutions to Selected Exercises 402

Index of Definitions 461

Index of Theorems 463
Subject Index 465

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Introduction

This is an introductory textbook on abstract algebra. A glance at the table of contents

will immediately reveal its basic organization and salient features: it belongs to the
‘rings-first’ camp, and places an unusual emphasis on modules, which (to my puzzle-
ment) are often essentially omitted in textbooks at this level. A few section titles will
also reveal passing nods to the notion of category, which is not developed or used in the
main body of the text, but is also not intentionally hidden from sight.
Why ‘rings first’? Why not ‘groups’? This textbook is meant as a first approach to
the subject of algebra, for an audience whose background does not include previous
exposure to the subject, or even very extensive exposure to abstract mathematics. It is
my belief that such an audience will find rings an easier concept to absorb than groups.
The main reason is that rings are defined by a rich pool of axioms with which readers
are already essentially familiar from elementary algebra; the axioms defining a group
are fewer, and they require a higher level of abstraction to be appreciated. While Z is a
fine example of a group, in order to view it as a group rather than as a ring, the reader
needs to forget the existence of one operation. This is in itself an exercise in abstraction,
and it seems best to not subject a naı̈ve audience to it. I believe that the natural port of
entry into algebra is the reader’s familiarity with Z, and this familiarity leads naturally
to the notion of ring. Natural examples leading to group theory could be the symmetric
or the dihedral groups; but these are not nearly as familiar (if at all) to a naı̈ve audience,
so again it seems best to wait until the audience has bought into the whole concept of
‘abstract mathematics’ before presenting them.
Thus, my choice to wait until later chapters before introducing groups is essentially
dictated by the wish to provide a gentle introduction to the subject, where the transition
to the needed level of abstraction can happen gradually. The treatment in the first sev-
eral sections of this book is intentionally very elementary, with detailed explanations
of comparatively simple material. A reader with no previous exposure to this material
should be able to read the first two chapters without excessive difficulty, and in the pro-
cess acquire the familiarity needed to approach later chapters. (Rings are introduced
in Chapter 3.) The writing becomes more demanding as the material is developed, as
is necessary—after all, the intended readership is expected to reach, by the end of the
book, a good comfort level with rather sophisticated material, such as the basics of Ga-
lois theory. It is my hope that the reader will emerge from the book well equipped to
approach graduate-level algebra. In fact, this is what many students in my undergraduate
algebra courses have done.

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x Introduction

The book could be used for a group-first approach, provided that the audience is ‘ma-
ture’ enough to cope right away with the higher level of abstraction of groups, and that
the instructor is willing to occasionally interpolate references to previous chapters. In
fact, the reliance of the chapters on groups in Part III on material developed in previous
chapters is minimal, and mostly contextual (with the exception of a treatment of cyclic
groups, which is carried out in Part II). However, the writing in Part III is naturally
terser and puts more demands on the reader; so, again, this is not recommended for a
naı̈ve audience. Part IV deals with fields, and here the audience is certainly expected to
be comfortable handling abstract concepts, perhaps at the level of a Master’s student. I
would definitely not recommend a ‘fields-first’ approach in an introduction to algebra.
More than 50 years ago, Atiyah and Macdonald wrote in their Introduction to Com-
mutative Algebra: “. . . following the modern trend, we put more emphasis on mod-
ules and localization.” Apparently, what was the ‘modern trend’ in 1970 has not really
percolated yet to the standard teaching of an introductory course in algebra in 2020,
since it seems that most standard textbooks at this level omit the subject of modules
altogether. In this book, modules are presented as equal partners with other standard
topics—groups, rings, fields. After all, most readers will have had some exposure to
linear algebra, and therefore will be familiar to some extent with vector spaces; and
they will emerge from studying rings with a good understanding of ideals and quotient
rings. These are all good examples of modules, and the opportunity to make the reader
familiar with this more encompassing notion should not be missed.
The opportunity to emphasize modules was in itself sufficient motivation to write this
book. I believe that readers will be more likely to encounter modules, complexes, exact
sequences, introduced here in §9.2, in their future studies than many other seemingly
more standard traditional topics covered in introductory algebra books (and also covered
in this text, of course).
Having made this choice, it is natural to view abelian groups as particular cases of
modules, and the classification theorem for finitely generated abelian groups is given as
a particular case of the analogous results for finitely generated modules over Euclidean
domains (proved in full). Groups are presented as generalizations of abelian groups;
this goes counter to the prevailing habit of presenting abelian groups as particular cases
of groups. After treating groups, the text covers the standard basic material on field
extensions, including a proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory.
On the whole, the progression rings–modules–abelian groups–groups–fields simply
seems to me the most natural in a first approach to algebra directed at an audience
without previous exposure to the subject. While it is possible to follow a different pro-
gression (e.g., start with groups and/or avoid modules) I would have to demand more of
my audience in order to carry that out successfully.
I could defend the same conclusion concerning categories. My graduate(-leaning) al-
gebra textbook1 has somehow acquired the reputation of ‘using categories’. It would be
more accurate to state that I did not go out of my way to avoid using the basic language
1 Algebra: Chapter 0. Graduate Studies in Mathematics, No. 104. American Mathematical Society,
Providence, RI.

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Introduction xi

of categories in that textbook. For this textbook, aimed at a more naı̈ve audience, I have
resolved to steer away from direct use of the language. I have even refrained from giving
the definition of a category! On the other hand, the material itself practically demands a
few mentions of the concept—again, if one does not go out of one’s way to avoid such
mentions. It is possible, but harder, to do without them. It seemed particularly inevitable
to point out that many of the constructions examined in the book satisfy universal prop-
erties, and in the exercises the reader is encouraged to flesh out this observation for
some standard examples, such as kernels or (co)products. My hope is that the reader
will emerge from reading these notes with a natural predisposition for absorbing the
more sophisticated language of categories whenever the opportunity arises.
The main prerequisite for this text is a general level of familiarity with the basic
language of naive set theory. For the convenience of the reader, a quick summary of
the relevant concepts and notions is included in the Appendix A, with the emphasis
on equivalence relations and partitions. I describe in some detail a decomposition of
set-functions that provides a template for the various ‘isomorphism theorems’ encoun-
tered in the book. However, this appendix is absolutely not required in order to read
the book; it is only provided for the convenience of the reader who may be somewhat
rusty on standard set-theoretic operations and logic, and who may benefit from being
reminded of the various typical ‘methods of proof’. There are no references to the ap-
pendix from the main body of the text, other than a suggestion to review (if necessary)
the all-important notions of equivalence relations and partitions. As stressed above, the
text begins very gently, and I believe that the motivated reader with a minimum of back-
ground can understand it without difficulty.
It is also advisable that readers have been exposed to a little linear algebra, partic-
ularly to benefit the most from examples involving, e.g., matrices. This is not strictly
necessary; linear algebra is not used in any substantial way in the development of the
material. The linear algebra needed in Part II is developed from scratch. In fact, one
subproduct of covering modules in some detail in this text should be that readers will be
better equipped to understand linear algebra more thoroughly in their future encounters
with that subject.
Appendix B includes extensive solutions to about one-third of the exercises listed at
the end of each chapter; these solved problems are marked with the symbol ⊲. These are
all (and only) the problems quoted directly from the text. In the text, the reader may be
asked to provide details for parts of a proof, or construct an example, or verify a claim
made in a remark, and so on. Readers should take the time to perform these activities
on their own, and the appendix will give an opportunity to compare their work with my
own ‘solution’. I believe this can be very useful, particularly to readers who may not
have easy access to an alternative source to discuss the material developed in this book.
In any case, the appendix provides a sizeable amount of material that complements the
main text, and which instructors may choose to cover or not cover, or assign as extra
reading (after students have attempted to work it out on their own, of course!).

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xii Introduction

How to use this book? I cover the material in this book in the order it is written,
in a two-semester sequence in abstract algebra at the undergraduate level at Florida
State University. Instructors who, like me, have the luxury of being able to spend two
semesters on this material are advised to do the same. One semester will suffice for the
first part, on rings; and some time will be left to begin discussing modules. The second
semester will complete modules and cover groups and fields.
Of course, other ways to navigate the content of this book are possible. By design,
the material on groups has no hard references back to Chapter 6, 7, or 9. Therefore, if
only one semester is available, one could plan on covering the core material on rings
(Chapters 1–5), modules (Chapter 8), and groups (Chapter 11). It will be necessary to
also borrow some material from Chapter 10, such as the definition and basic features
of cyclic groups, as these are referenced within Chapter 11. This roadmap should leave
enough time to cover parts of Chapter 12 (more advanced material on groups) or Chap-
ter 13 (basic material on field extensions), at the discretion of the instructor.
The pedagogical advantages of the rings-first approach have been championed in
Hungerford’s excellent undergraduate-level algebra text, which I have successfully used
several times for my courses. Readers who are familiar with Hungerford’s book will
detect an imprint of it in this book, particularly in the first several sections and in the
choice of many exercises.
Thanks are due to the students taking my courses, for feedback as I was finding this
particular way of telling this particular story. I also thank Ettore Aldrovandi for spot-
ting a number of large and small errors in an earlier version of these notes, and several
anonymous reviewers for very constructive comments. I thank Sarah Lewis for the ex-
cellent copyediting work, and Kaitlin Leach and Amy Mower at Cambridge University
Press for expertly guiding the book from acquisition through production. Lastly, thanks
are due to the University of Toronto and to Caltech, whose hospitality was instrumental
in bringing this text into the present form.

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Before we Begin

Dear reader: This book introduces you to the subject of abstract algebra, and specifi-
cally the study of certain structures—rings, modules, groups, and fields—which are the
basic pillars of abstract algebra. While learning this material, you are not the end-user
of a set of tools (as a calculus student may be); rather, you are taking a guided tour
through the factory that produces those tools, and you are expected to learn how the
tools themselves are put together. Your attention should be directed towards the deep
reasons that make things work the way they do. These reasons are encapsulated in the
various statements we will encounter, and these statements will deal with the precise
definitions we will introduce. Your focus will be on understanding these definitions,
these statements, and why the statements are true.
Unavoidably, in the main text I must assume that you have reached a certain level
of ‘mathematical maturity’ and can read and write proofs, follow and construct logi-
cal arguments, and are familiar with the basic language of naive set theory. If you do
not have this background, or if it dates too far back, you will want to spend some time
perusing Appendix A, which attempts to cover these preliminary notions in a concise
fashion. In any case, I have written the first several sections of the main text with par-
ticular abundance of details and explanations; a minimum level of familiarity with the
way the notation is used should suffice in order to understand the material in these early
sections, and the practice acquired in the process should be helpful in reading the later
chapters, where the writing is necessarily more terse and your task is altogether more
demanding.
The book includes a large number of exercises. They were also chosen so as to be
more straightforward in earlier sections and gradually increase in complexity as the text
progresses. Many exercises (marked with the symbol ⊲ in the lists given at the end of
each chapter) are quoted from within the text: these may ask you to complete a proof,
or to fill in the details of an example, or to verify a claim made in a remark, and so
on. While reading a mathematical text, it is very common to have to stop and carry
out such verifications; indeed, this is an integral part of the process of understanding
mathematics. My hope is that these exercises will help you gain this healthy habit.
Appendix B includes the solutions to all these exercises. Comparing your work to my
solution will hopefully provide you with useful feedback. Of course you shouldn’t look
up the solution to an exercise until you have given it your best shot; and you are warmly
encouraged to try and solve every exercise in the book, whether a solution is provided
or not.

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xiv Before we Begin

Three indices are provided: the first two list definitions and theorems, and the third
one is a standard subject index. The definitions are probably the most important compo-
nent in a subject like algebra: they trace the path along which the material is developed,
and most of the theorems one proves at this level have the purpose of expressing the
precise way in which these definitions are related to one another. You should expect
to look up the exact meaning of specific terms introduced in this book very often. The
corresponding index will help you do this quickly when the need arises.

‘Algebra’ as we understand it currently, and as I will attempt to present it in these

notes, was developed over the course of many decades if not centuries, and reached a
very mature form long ago. It deals with certain types of objects (rings, groups, . . . ),
that are introduced by choosing suitable collections of axioms to describe their general
features precisely. These axioms are often chosen to model features of ‘concrete’ ex-
amples, such as the conventional algebra of integers; and indeed, this text begins with
a discussion of the algebra of ordinary integers from a viewpoint which naturally leads
to the definition of the notion of ring. The other algebraic structures treated in this text
arise just as naturally. These structures have been extremely successful in the develop-
ment of higher-level concepts and important branches of modern mathematics. Indeed,
algebra is the language in which entire modern fields of mathematics are ‘spoken’: for
example, algebraic geometry and algebraic number theory; but also seemingly distant
fields like particle physics rely on sophisticated algebraic notions. Making any sense
of such fields will require the background you are beginning to acquire by reading this
book.
The book consists of four ‘parts’: on rings, on modules, on groups, and on fields.
These are listed roughly in order of increasing abstraction. By the end of the text, we
will gain an appreciation of Galois theory, which will answer very sophisticated ques-
tions about polynomials with integer coefficients. Such questions could be posed (and
indeed were posed) before any of the more abstract scaffolding was put into place; but
answering such questions really only becomes possible by using the abstract tools we
will develop.
Before beginning in earnest, I will mention a concept that is even more basic and
abstract than the main structures we are going to study. In fact, this concept gives a
unifying view of such structures, and you have likely (and unwittingly) gathered an
intuitive feeling for it in earlier studies. At some level, you are familiar with sets: they
are a formalization of the notion of ‘collections’ of arbitrary things (called ‘elements’);
and we use functions to transfer information from a set to another set. (If you are not
familiar with these notions, spend some time with Appendix A in this book!) You are
also (likely) familiar with vector spaces: vector spaces are certain objects you study in
linear algebra, and in that case also there is a way to ‘transfer information’ from one
object to another object. Specifically, linear maps act between vector spaces, and you
can describe them efficiently by means of matrices. Depending on your mathematical
history to date, you may have run across the same template elsewhere. For example, if
you have seen a little topology, then you have encountered topological spaces, and ways
to go from one topological space to another one, that is, continuous functions.

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Before we Begin xv

After running into several such examples, you get used to the idea that studying a
specific subject amounts to understanding the objects you are dealing with (for example,
sets, vector spaces, topological spaces, and so on), and the type of functions that may
be used to move from one object to another object of the same kind. In general, these
‘functions’ are called morphisms. (For example, morphisms are ordinary functions for
sets, linear maps for vector spaces, continuous functions for topological spaces, and so
on.) A ‘category’ is an abstract entity that captures this general template: categories
consist of objects, and of morphisms between objects. There are a few axioms spelling
out general requirements on objects and morphisms, which we do not need to list now
but which would look familiar based on our experience with sets and functions, and with
the other examples mentioned above. (For example, every object is required to have an
‘identity morphism’, just as every set has an ‘identity function’ and every vector space
has an ‘identity linear map’, corresponding to the identity matrix.)
Large areas of mathematics can be understood, at least as a first approximation, as the
study of certain categories. This unifying principle underlies everything we will cover
in these notes. There is a category of rings, a category of groups, and several other cate-
gories of interest in the field of algebra. These categories have several common features.
For example, we will be able to define ‘quotients’ of rings and ‘quotients’ of groups.
These constructions all have a common thread, and this will become evident when we
go through them. The reason is that they are all instances of general constructions that
could be defined simultaneously for certain types of categories.
Studying algebra at this introductory level means to a large extent understanding how
these constructions are performed in several key instances. We will not really use the
language of categories in these notes, but it will secretly underlie most of what we will
do. Some latent awareness of this fact may be beneficial to you, as it is to me. In any
case, you will learn much more about this point of view when you move on to texts
covering this material at a more advanced level.
Exercises
0.1 Read (or at least skim through) the Wikipedia page on ‘category theory’.

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