17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
this book is out of date, June 11, 2004
This review is from: Schaum's Outline of Abstract Algebra (Schaum's Easy Outlines) (Paperback)
I think that most of schaum's series are out of date. In particular, Schaum's "abstract algebra" is not an exception. I bougut this book to prepare my course, Abstract Algebra 1. But this book was full of stuff which is not relevant to the subject. For example, it deals in matix and boolen algebra, which are excluded in most of Alstract Algebra courses in universities. And it doesn't contains stuff about Galois' Theory. Galois' theory can be called the aim to learn Abstract Algebra. I cannot help confessing that to read this book is to waste time. It would confuse you rather than help. You cannout build the outline of Abstract Algebra with this book. I think that it is becase this book was too old-fashioned.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not impressed, January 9, 2001
I was not impressed with this book. The author appears to make quite a few errors, both in the definitions and in the examples, enough so that I could not be sure what was intended. I cannot recommend this as a tutorial in abstract algebra. However, the confusion did force me to think about the subject.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Abstract Algebra Book - Simple explanation yet cover wide scope, May 6, 2008
This review is from: Schaum's Outline of Abstract Algebra (Schaum's Easy Outlines) (Paperback)
I read about 20 books on Abstract Algebra, but I still find this book excellent for Math students who have not been exposed to Abstract Math before. This book serves as a bridge from High-school 'computational' Math to the University Math which is based on abstract proof of Math structures.
I have not seen a similar excellent book on Abstract Algebra which could cover the vast topics in such systematic manner: from Set, Relation, N,Z,Q,R,C, building a solid foundation, before attacking the 'gems' in Group, Ring, Field, Polynomial, Matrices & Linear Algebra.
The selling point of this book is the 450 exercises at end of each chapter. Keeping the core definitions and theorems at each chapter while leaving the proofs later in the exercises, this allows the reader to browse thru' the topics quickly without being burderned by the nitty-gritty details of proof which would slow down the reading.
Granted, Galois Group is not covered in details. However, one has to compromise that the Galois Group is too advanced a topic to deserve another big volume to cover. The example given 'Gal C/R' explains, to my opinion, a clear view of what Galois Group is: Group of automorphism of functions, sub-field (or splitting field), etc. You can grasp what a Galois Group is in 1 single page, rather than reading a 100-page book but still have a faint idea of what 'Gal K/F' is?
My only comment is there are quite a few typo mistakes in Definitions, Theorem reference numbers, which are easily spotted if you understand the topics.
I sincerely hope there will be a 3rd edition of this book soon.
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