Customer Reviews

A Course on Group Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On the strength of the previos review from France, I bought this book in the hope of a nice intro to group theory. Imagine my consternation when I read the preface in which it was clearly stated that the book specifically covers FINITE group theory and presupposes that the reader has had prior, elementary course in group theory. If you don't know group theory already, start with some other book, then try this one.

This book is very complete: it is intended as a guide about group theory for the beginners who want to study it seriously. Exercises are excellent. Moreover it contains a chapter which hasn't been published before (about transfer and splitting theorems).

I had some previous exposure to Group Theory, but then my thesis (in Computer Science) actually needed Group Theory, so I was forced to dig deeper and get some real understanding. This book was more than adequate, and the price was just unbeatable. If you actually need explicit algorithmic details (for implementation), check out "Fundamental Algorithms for Permutation Groups" from Greg Butler as well.

This book is jam packed with exercises and examples sure to keep you interested. My copy is showing some wear and this book is good enough I'll probably buy a crisp new copy. See the table of contents.