Table Of Content1. n. herstein
University of Chicago
TOPICS IN
ALGEBRA
2na
edition
Xerox Colle ge Publishin & Lexington, Massachusetts Toronto
To Marianne
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Preface to the Second Edition
I approached revising Topics in Algebra with a certain amount of
trepidation. On the whole, I was satisfied with the first edition and did
not want to tamper with it. However, there were certain changes I felt
should be made, changes which would not affect the general style or
content, but which would make the book a little more complete. I
hope that I have achieved this objective in the present version.
For the most part, the major changes take place in the chapter on
group theory. When the first edition was written it was fairly un-
common for a student learning abstract algebra to have had any
previous exposure to linear algebra. Nowadays quite the opposite is
true; many students, perhaps even a majority, have learned something
about 2 x 2 matrices at this stage. Thus I felt free here to draw on
2 x 2 matrices for examples and problems. These parts, which
depend on some knowledge of linear algebra, are indicated with a #.
In the chapter on groups I have largely expanded one section, that
on Sylow’s theorem, and added two others, one on direct products and
one on the structure of finite abelian groups.
In the previous treatment of Sylow’s theorem, only the existence of a
Sylow subgroup was shown. This was done following the proof of
Wielandt. The conjugacy of the Sylow subgroups and their number
were developed in a series of exercises, but not in the text proper.
Now all the parts of Sylow’s theorem are done in the text material.
Preface to the Second Edition
In addition to the proof previously given for the existence, two other
proofs of existence are carried out. One could accuse me of overkill
at this point, probably rightfully so. The fact of the matter is that Sylow’s
theorem is important, that each proof illustrates a different aspect of group
theory and, above all, that I love Sylow’s theorem. The proof of the con-
jugacy and number of Sylow subgroups exploits double cosets. A by-product
of this development is that a means is given for finding Sylow subgroups in a
large set of symmetric groups.
For some mysterious reason known only to myself, I had omitted direct
products in the first edition. Why is beyond me. The material is easy,
straightforward, and important. This lacuna is now filled in the section
treating direct products. With this in hand, I go on in the next section to
prove the decomposition of a finite abelian group as a direct product of
cyclic groups and also prove the uniqueness of the invariants associated with
this decomposition. In point of fact, this decomposition was already in the
first edition, at the end of the chapter on vector spaces, as a consequence of
the structure of finitely generated modules over Euclidean rings. However,
the case of a finite group is of great importance by itself; the section on finite
abelian groups underlines this importance. Its presence in the chapter on
groups, an early chapter, makes it more likely that it will be taught.
One other entire section has been added at the end of the chapter on field
theory. I felt that the student should see an explicit polynomial over an
explicit field whose Galois group was the symmetric group of degree 5, hence
one whose roots could not be expressed by radicals. In order to do so, a
theorem is first proved which gives a criterion that an irreducible poly-
nomial of degree p, f a prime, over the rational field have S, as its Galois
group. As an application of this criterion, an irreducible polynomial of
degree 5 is given, over the rational field, whose Galois group is the symmetric
group of degree 5.
There are several other additions. More than 150 new problems are to be
found here. They are of varying degrees of difficulty. Many are routine
and computational, many are very difficult. Furthermore, some inter-
polatory remarks are made about problems that have given readers a great
deal of difficulty. Some paragraphs have been inserted, others rewritten, at
places where the writing had previously been obscure or too terse.
Above I have described what I have added. What gave me greater
difficulty about the revision was, perhaps, that which I have not added. I
debated for a long time with myself whether or not to add a chapter on
category theory and some elementary functors, whether or not to enlarge the
material on modules substantially. After a great deal of thought and soul-
searching, I decided not to doso. The book, as stands, has a certain concrete-
ness about it with which this new material would not blend. It could be
made to blend, but this would require a complete reworking of the material
Preface to the Second Edition
of the book and a complete change in its philosophy—something I did not
want to do. A mere addition of this new material, as an adjunct with no
applications and no discernible goals, would have violated my guiding
principle that all matters discussed should lead to some clearly defined
objectives, to some highlight, to some exciting theorems. Thus I decided to
omit the additional topics.
Many people wrote me about the first edition pointing out typographical
mistakes or making suggestions on how to improve the book. I should like to
take this opportunity to thank them for their help and kindness.
Preface to the First Edition
The idea to write this book, and more important the desire to do so, is
a direct outgrowth ofa course I gave in the academic year 1959-1960 at
Cornell University. ‘The class taking this course consisted, in large part,
of the most gifted sophomores in mathematics at Cornell. It was my
desire to experiment by presenting to them material a little beyond that
which is usually taught in algebra at the junior-senior level.
I have aimed this book to be, both in content and degree of sophisti-
cation, about halfway between two great classics, A Survey of Modern
Algebra, by Birkhoff and MacLane, and Modern Algebra, by Van der
Waerden.
The last few years have seen marked changes in the instruction given
in mathematics at the American universities. This change is most
notable at the upper undergraduate and beginning graduate levels.
Topics that a few years ago were considered proper subject matter for
semiadvanced graduate courses in algebra have filtered down to, and
are being taught in, the very first course in abstract algebra. Convinced
that this filtration will continue and will become intensified in the next
few years, I have put into this book, which is designed to be used as the
student’s first introduction to algebra, material which hitherto has been
considered a little advanced for that stage of the game.
There is always a great danger when treating abstract ideas to intro-
duce them too suddenly and without a sufficient base of examples to
render them credible or natural. In order to try to mitigate this, I have
tried to motivate the concepts beforehand and to illustrate them in con-
crete situations. One of the most telling proofs of the worth of an abstract
vii
viii Preface to the First Edition
concept is what it, and the results about it, tells us in familiar situations. In
almost every chapter an attempt is made to bring out the significance of the
general results by applying them to particular problems. For instance, in the
chapter on rings, the two-square theorem of Fermat is exhibited as a direct
consequence of the theory developed for Euclidean rings.
The subject matter chosen for discussion has been picked not only because
it has become standard to present it at this level or because it is important in
the whole general development but also with an eye to this “‘concreteness.”’
For this reason I chose to omit the Jordan-Holder theorem, which certainly
could have easily been included in the results derived about groups. How-
ever, to appreciate this result for its own sake requires a great deal of hind-
sight and to see it used effectively would require too great a digression. True,
one could develop the whole theory of dimension of a vector space as one of
its corollaries, but, for the first time around, this seems like a much too fancy
and unnatural approach to something so basic and down-to-earth. Likewise,
there is no mention of tensor products or related constructions. There is so
much time and opportunity to become abstract; why rush it at the
beginning?
A word about the problems. There are a great number of them. It would
be an extraordinary student indeed who could solve them all. Some are
present merely to complete proofs in the text material, others to illustrate
and to give practice in the results obtained. Many are introduced not so
much to be solved as to be tackled. The value of a problem is not so much
in coming up with the answer as in the ideas and attempted ideas it forces
on the would-be solver. Others are included in anticipation of material to
be developed later, the hope and rationale for this being both to lay the
groundwork for the subsequent theory and also to make more natural ideas,
definitions, and arguments as they are introduced. Several problems appear
more than once. Problems that for some reason or other seem difficult to me
are often starred (sometimes with two stars). However, even here there will
be no agreement among mathematicians; many will feel that some unstarred
problems should be starred and vice versa.
Naturally, I am indebted to many people for suggestions, comments and
criticisms. To mention just a few of these: Charles Curtis, Marshall Hall,
Nathan Jacobson, Arthur Mattuck, and Maxwell Rosenlicht. I owe a great
deal to Daniel Gorenstein and Irving Kaplansky for the numerous con-
versations we have had about the book, its material and its approach.
Above all, I thank George Seligman for the many incisive suggestions and
remarks that he has made about the presentation both as to its style and to
its content. I am also grateful to Francis McNary of the staff of Ginn and
Company for his help and cooperation. Finally, I should like to express my
thanks to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; this book was
in part written with their support while the author was in Rome as a
Guggenheim Fellow.
Contents
1 Preliminary Notions
1.] Set ‘Theory
1.2 Mappings 10
1.3 The Integers 18
2 Group Theory 26
2.1 Definition of a Group 27
2.2 Some Examples of Groups 29
2.3 Some Preliminary Lemmas 33
2.4 Subgroups 37
2.9 A Counting Principle 44
2.6 Normal Subgroups and Quotient Groups 49
2.7 Homomorphisms o4
2.8 Automorphisms 66
2.9 Cayley’s Theorem 71
2.10 Permutation Groups 79
2.11 Another Counting Principle 82
2.12 Sylow’s ‘Theorem 91
2.13 Direct Products 103
2.14 Finite Abelian Groups 109
x Contents
Ring Theory 120
3.1 Definition and Examples of Rings 120
3.2 Some Special Classes of Rings 125
3.3 Homomorphisms 13]
3.4 Ideals and Quotient Rings 133
3.9 More Ideals and Quotient Rings 137
3.6 The Field of Quotients of an Integral Domain 140
3.7 Euclidean Rings 143
3.8 A Particular Euclidean Ring 149
3.9 Polynomial Rings 153
3.10 Polynomials over the Rational Field 159
3.1] Polynomial Rings over Commutative Rings 16]
Vector Spaces and Modules 170
4.1 Elementary Basic Concepts 17]
4.2 Linear Independence and Bases 177
4.3. Dual Spaces 184
4.4 Inner Product Spaces 19]
4.5 Modules 201]
Fields
207
5.1 Extension Fields 207
5.2. The Transcendence of e 216
5.3. Roots of Polynomials 219
5.4 Construction with Straightedge and Compass 228
5.9 More About Roots 232
5.6 ‘The Elements of Galois Theory 237
5.7. Solvability by Radicals 250
5.8 Galois Groups over the Rationals 256
Linear Transformations 260
6.1 The Algebra of Linear Transformations 26]
6.2 Characteristic Roots 270
6.3 Matrices 273
6.4 Canonical Forms: Triangular Form 285
