Product Description
Originally published in 1984, the principal objective of this book is to make the general theory of field extensions accessible to any reader with a modest background in groups, rings and vector spaces. Galois theory is generally regarded as one of the central and most beautiful parts of algebra and its creation marked the culmination of investigations by generations of mathematicians on one of the oldest problems in algebra, the solvability of polynomial equations by radicals. ... Read more

Product Description
This book, which has been translated and revised by the author from notes of a course, is an introduction to certain central ideas in group theory and geometry. Professor Lyndon emphasises and exploits the well-known connections between the two subjects and, whilst keeping the presentation at a level that assumes only a basic background in mathematics, leads the reader to the frontiers of current research. The treatment is concrete and combinatorial with a minimal use of analytic geometry. In the interest of the reader's intuition, most of the geometry considered is two-dimensional and there is an emphasis on examples, both in the text and in the problems at the end of each chapter. ... Read more

Product Description
Advanced textbook outlining combinatorial group theory, with emphasis on connections with topology, logic, and arguments of a primitive geometric nature. Also briefly mentions a number of topics not belonging to combinatorial group theory, such as groups acting on trees and linear groups. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A reprint at last!
A text truly deserving the designation "classic"; bravo to Springer for reprinting this book!This seminal text provides a clear exposition of the topic, along with numerous jumping-off points for exploring interesting outgrowths and tangents.A must-have text for anyone interested in the subject.

Great book
A "must read" for everybody who is interested in combinatorial aspects of algebra. You can read whole book or some chapters (free groups, free constructions, diagrams, 1-relator, ...). I don't think it's forabsolute beginners, but if you want, you understand it. It would be greatif this book were reprinted with some complements (which could be writtenby Ol'shanskii, Gersten, Sapir,Shupp, Stallings, Guba, S.Ivanov,Baumslag, Lysyonok ...)

A very good textbook
It's an absolute pity that this book is out of print, since it's one of the few good recent textbooks about combinatorial group theory. One can only hope it will be reprinted soon... ... Read more

Product Description
This volume grew out of a desire by the editors to honor their teacher, Roger Lyndon, on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday. Five short articles about Lyndon and his contributions to mathematics, as well as twenty-seven invited research papers in combinatorial group theory and closely related areas are contained in this book.

It is a tribute to Lyndon's mathematical breadth that papers covering such a wide array of topics are all closely related to the work he has done. Several of the articles fall into subfields of combinatorial group theory, areas in which much of the initial work was done by Lyndon. Remaining research articles fall into various subfields of homological groups, another area in which he has made major contributions. Research articles, written by some of the leading practitioners in the field, are listed below.

There is a biographical essay about Lyndon by Kenneth Appel, and there are expository articles about his work by Saunders MacLane, John Ratcliffe, Jerome Keisler, and Paul Schupp. MacLane describes the results in Lyndon's doctoral thesis and explains how they fit into the early history of spectral sequences while Ratcliffe presents Lyndon's fundamental work in cohomology of groups in the early part of his career. His work in logic, especially his fundamental results in model theory in the mid 1950s is discussed by Keisler. Lyndon's contribution to group theory over the past twenty years is described by Schupp. ... Read more