Series On University Mathematics - Böcker

This book comes from the first part of the lecture notes which the author used for a first-year graduate algebra course. The aim of this book is not only to give the students quick access to the basic knowledge of algebra, either for future advancement in the field of algebra, or for general background information, but also to show that algebra is truly a master key or a “skeleton key” to many mathematical problems. As one knows, the teeth of an ordinary key prevent it from opening all but one door; whereas the skeleton key keeps only the essential parts, allow it to unlock many doors. The author wishes to present this book as an attempt to re-establish the contacts between algebra and other branches of mathematics and sciences. Many examples and exercises are included to illustrate the power of intuitive approaches to algebra.

This book comes from the first part of the lecture notes which the author used for a first-year graduate algebra course. The aim of this book is not only to give the students quick access to the basic knowledge of algebra, either for future advancement in the field of algebra, or for general background information, but also to show that algebra is truly a master key or a “skeleton key” to many mathematical problems. As one knows, the teeth of an ordinary key prevent it from opening all but one door; whereas the skeleton key keeps only the essential parts, allow it to unlock many doors. The author wishes to present this book as an attempt to re-establish the contacts between algebra and other branches of mathematics and sciences. Many examples and exercises are included to illustrate the power of intuitive approaches to algebra.

The student of calculus is entitled to ask what calculus is and what it can be used for. This short book provides an answer.The author starts by demonstrating that calculus provides a mathematical tool for the quantitative analysis of a wide range of dynamical phenomena and systems with variable quantities.He then looks at the origins and intuitive sources of calculus, its fundamental methodology, and its general framework and basic structure, before examining a few typical applications.The author's style is direct and pedagogical. The new student should find that the book provides a clear and strong grounding in this important technique.

The student of calculus is entitled to ask what calculus is and what it can be used for. This short book provides an answer.The author starts by demonstrating that calculus provides a mathematical tool for the quantitative analysis of a wide range of dynamical phenomena and systems with variable quantities.He then looks at the origins and intuitive sources of calculus, its fundamental methodology, and its general framework and basic structure, before examining a few typical applications.The author's style is direct and pedagogical. The new student should find that the book provides a clear and strong grounding in this important technique.

Novel and important applications of number theory to graph theory and vice versa had been made in the past decade. The two main tools used are based on the estimates of character sums and the estimates of the eigenvalues of Hecke operators, both are rooted in the celebrated Weil conjectures settled by Deligne in 1973. The purpose of this book is to give, from scratch, a coherent and comprehensive introduction to the topics in number theory related to the central tools, with the ultimate goal of presenting their applications. This book includes many important subjects in number theory, such as Weil conjectures, Riemann-Roch theorem, L-functions, character sum estimates, modular forms, and representation theory.

This volume discusses the classical subjects of Euclidean, affine and projective geometry in two and three dimensions, including the classification of conics and quadrics, and geometric transformations. These subjects are important both for the mathematical grounding of the student and for applications to various other subjects. They may be studied in the first year or as a second course in geometry.The material is presented in a geometric way, and it aims to develop the geometric intuition and thinking of the student, as well as his ability to understand and give mathematical proofs. Linear algebra is not a prerequisite, and is kept to a bare minimum.The book includes a few methodological novelties, and a large number of exercises and problems with solutions. It also has an appendix about the use of the computer program MAPLEV in solving problems of analytical and projective geometry, with examples.

This book is a translation of an authoritative introductory text based on a lecture series delivered by the renowned differential geometer, Professor S S Chern in Beijing University in 1980. The original Chinese text, authored by Professor Chern and Professor Wei-Huan Chen, was a unique contribution to the mathematics literature, combining simplicity and economy of approach with depth of contents. The present translation is aimed at a wide audience, including (but not limited to) advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics, as well as physicists interested in the diverse applications of differential geometry to physics. In addition to a thorough treatment of the fundamentals of manifold theory, exterior algebra, the exterior calculus, connections on fiber bundles, Riemannian geometry, Lie groups and moving frames, and complex manifolds (with a succinct introduction to the theory of Chern classes), and an appendix on the relationship between differential geometry and theoretical physics, this book includes a new chapter on Finsler geometry and a new appendix on the history and recent developments of differential geometry, the latter prepared specially for this edition by Professor Chern to bring the text into perspectives.

This invaluable book provides a concise and systematic introduction to the theory of compact connected Lie groups and their representations, as well as a complete presentation of the structure and classification theory. It uses a non-traditional approach and organization. There is a proper balance between, and a natural combination of, the algebraic and geometric aspects of Lie theory, not only in technical proofs but also in conceptual viewpoints. For example, the orbital geometry of adjoint action, is regarded as the geometric organization of the totality of non-commutativity of a given compact connected Lie group, while the maximal tori theorem of É. Cartan and the Weyl reduction of the adjoint action on G to the Weyl group action on a chosen maximal torus are presented as the key results that provide a clear-cut understanding of the orbital geometry.

This invaluable book provides a concise and systematic introduction to the theory of compact connected Lie groups and their representations, as well as a complete presentation of the structure and classification theory. It uses a non-traditional approach and organization. There is a proper balance between, and a natural combination of, the algebraic and geometric aspects of Lie theory, not only in technical proofs but also in conceptual viewpoints. For example, the orbital geometry of adjoint action, is regarded as the geometric organization of the totality of non-commutativity of a given compact connected Lie group, while the maximal tori theorem of É. Cartan and the Weyl reduction of the adjoint action on G to the Weyl group action on a chosen maximal torus are presented as the key results that provide a clear-cut understanding of the orbital geometry.

This book is a translation of an authoritative introductory text based on a lecture series delivered by the renowned differential geometer, Professor S S Chern in Beijing University in 1980. The original Chinese text, authored by Professor Chern and Professor Wei-Huan Chen, was a unique contribution to the mathematics literature, combining simplicity and economy of approach with depth of contents. The present translation is aimed at a wide audience, including (but not limited to) advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics, as well as physicists interested in the diverse applications of differential geometry to physics. In addition to a thorough treatment of the fundamentals of manifold theory, exterior algebra, the exterior calculus, connections on fiber bundles, Riemannian geometry, Lie groups and moving frames, and complex manifolds (with a succinct introduction to the theory of Chern classes), and an appendix on the relationship between differential geometry and theoretical physics, this book includes a new chapter on Finsler geometry and a new appendix on the history and recent developments of differential geometry, the latter prepared specially for this edition by Professor Chern to bring the text into perspectives.

Algebraic geometry is more advanced with the completeness condition for projective or complete varieties. Many geometric properties are well described by the finiteness or the vanishing of sheaf cohomologies on such varieties. For non-complete varieties like affine algebraic varieties, sheaf cohomology does not work well and research progress used to be slow, although affine spaces and polynomial rings are fundamental building blocks of algebraic geometry. Progress was rapid since the Abhyankar-Moh-Suzuki Theorem of embedded affine line was proved, and logarithmic geometry was introduced by Iitaka and Kawamata.Readers will find the book covers vast basic material on an extremely rigorous level:

This volume discusses the classical subjects of Euclidean, affine and projective geometry in two and three dimensions, including the classification of conics and quadrics, and geometric transformations. These subjects are important both for the mathematical grounding of the student and for applications to various other subjects. They may be studied in the first year or as a second course in geometry.The material is presented in a geometric way, and it aims to develop the geometric intuition and thinking of the student, as well as his ability to understand and give mathematical proofs. Linear algebra is not a prerequisite, and is kept to a bare minimum.The book includes a few methodological novelties, and a large number of exercises and problems with solutions. It also has an appendix about the use of the computer program MAPLEV in solving problems of analytical and projective geometry, with examples.

From Tzuong-Tsieng Moh, a seasoned expert in algebra, comes a new book for students to better understand linear algebra. Writing from an experienced standpoint, Moh covers the many standard aspects comprising linear algebra, such as echelon forms, matrix algebra, linear transformations, and more. Moh further includes several advanced topics and applications, as well as self-correcting codes, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Maxwell's equations in relativity form, Google's search engine, and the theory of finitely generated modules over a PID. This book is ideal for both newcomers and experienced readers who want to attain a deeper understanding on both the basics and advanced topics of linear algebra and its vast applications. The wide range of topics combined with the depth of each discussion make it essential to be on the shelf of every mathematical beginner and enthusiast.

This volume consists of nine lectures on selected topics of Lie group theory. We provide the readers a concise introduction as well as a comprehensive "tour of revisiting" the remarkable achievements of S Lie, W Killing, É Cartan and H Weyl on structural and classification theory of semi-simple Lie groups, Lie algebras and their representations; and also the wonderful duet of Cartan's theory on Lie groups and symmetric spaces.With the benefit of retrospective hindsight, mainly inspired by the outstanding contribution of H Weyl in the special case of compact connected Lie groups, we develop the above theory via a route quite different from the original methods engaged by most other books.We begin our revisiting with the compact theory which is much simpler than that of the general semi-simple Lie theory; mainly due to the well fittings between the Frobenius-Schur character theory and the maximal tori theorem of É Cartan together with Weyl's reduction (cf. Lectures 1-4). It is a wonderful reality of the Lie theory that the clear-cut orbital geometry of the adjoint action of compact Lie groups on themselves (i.e. the geometry of conjugacy classes) is not only the key to understand the compact theory, but it actually already constitutes the central core of the entire semi-simple theory, as well as that of the symmetric spaces (cf. Lectures 5-9). This is the main reason that makes the succeeding generalizations to the semi-simple Lie theory, and then further to the Cartan theory on Lie groups and symmetric spaces, conceptually quite natural, and technically rather straightforward.

This volume consists of nine lectures on selected topics of Lie group theory. We provide the readers a concise introduction as well as a comprehensive "tour of revisiting" the remarkable achievements of S Lie, W Killing, É Cartan and H Weyl on structural and classification theory of semi-simple Lie groups, Lie algebras and their representations; and also the wonderful duet of Cartan's theory on Lie groups and symmetric spaces.With the benefit of retrospective hindsight, mainly inspired by the outstanding contribution of H Weyl in the special case of compact connected Lie groups, we develop the above theory via a route quite different from the original methods engaged by most other books.We begin our revisiting with the compact theory which is much simpler than that of the general semi-simple Lie theory; mainly due to the well fittings between the Frobenius-Schur character theory and the maximal tori theorem of É Cartan together with Weyl's reduction (cf. Lectures 1-4). It is a wonderful reality of the Lie theory that the clear-cut orbital geometry of the adjoint action of compact Lie groups on themselves (i.e. the geometry of conjugacy classes) is not only the key to understand the compact theory, but it actually already constitutes the central core of the entire semi-simple theory, as well as that of the symmetric spaces (cf. Lectures 5-9). This is the main reason that makes the succeeding generalizations to the semi-simple Lie theory, and then further to the Cartan theory on Lie groups and symmetric spaces, conceptually quite natural, and technically rather straightforward.