P. J. Hilton - Böcker

Since the introduction of homotopy groups by Hurewicz in 1935, homotopy theory has occupied a prominent place in the development of algebraic topology. This monograph provides an account of the subject which bridges the gap between the fundamental concepts of topology and the more complex treatment to be found in original papers. The first six chapters describe the essential ideas of homotopy theory: homotopy groups, the classical theorems, the exact homotopy sequence, fibre-spaces, the Hopf invariant, and the Freudenthal suspension. The final chapters discuss J. H. C. Whitehead's cell-complexes and their application to homotopy groups of complexes.

These notes constitute a faithful record of a short course of lectures given in São Paulo, Brazil, in the summer of 1968. The audience was assumed to be familiar with the basic material of homology and homotopy theory, and the object of the course was to explain the methodology of general cohomology theory and to give applications of K-theory to familiar problems such as that of the existence of real division algebras. The audience was not assumed to be sophisticated in homological algebra, so one chapter is devoted to an elementary exposition of exact couples and spectral sequences.

This account of algebraic topology is complete in itself, assuming no previous knowledge of the subject. It is used as a textbook for students in the final year of an undergraduate course or on graduate courses and as a handbook for mathematicians in other branches who want some knowledge of the subject.

THIS book is intended to provide the university student in the physical sciences with information about the differential calculus which he is likely to need. The techniques described are presented with due regard for their theoretical basis; but the emphasis is on detailed discussion of the ideas of the differ­ ential calculus and on the avoidance of false statements rather than on complete proofs of all results. It is a frequent experi­ ence of the university lecturer that science students 'know how to differentiate', but are less confident when asked to say 'what ix means'. It is with the conviction that a proper understand­ ing of the calculus is actually useful in scientific work and not merely the preoccupation of pedantic mathematicians that this book has been written. The author wishes to thank his colleague and friend, Dr. W. Ledermann, for his invaluable suggestions during the prepara­ tion of this book. P. J. HILTON The University. Manchester . . . Contents PAGE Preface V CHAPTER I Introduction to Coordinate Geometry I 6 2 Rate of Change and Differentiation I. The meaning of 'rate of change' 6 2. Limits 9 3. Rules for differentiating IS 4. Formulae for differentiating 21 Exerc-bses 2 3 3 Maxima and Minima and Taylor's Theorem 34 I. Mean Value Theorem 34 2. Taylor's Theorem 41 3. Maxima and minima 45 4.

THIS book, like its predecessors in the same series, is in- tended primarily to serve the needs of the university student in the physical sciences. However, it begins where a really elementary treatment of the differential calculus (e. g. , Dif- ferential Calculus,t in this series) leaves off. The study of physical phenomena inevitably leads to the consideration of functions of more than one variable and their rates of change; the same is also true of the study of statistics, economics, and sociology. The mathematical ideas involved are des- cribed in this book, and only the student familiar with the corresponding ideas for functions of a single variable should attempt to understand the extension of the method of the differential calculus to several variables. The reader should also be warned that, with the deeper penetration into the subject which is required in studying functions of more than one variable, the mathematical argu- ments involved also take on a more sophisticated aspect.It should be emphasized that the basic ideas do not differ at all from those described in DC, but they are manipulated with greater dexterity in situations in which they are, perhaps, intuitively not so obvious. This remark may not console the reader bogged down in a difficult proof; but it may well happen (as so often in studying mathematics) that the reader will be given insight into the structure of a proof by follow- ing the examples provided and attempting the exercises.