Download or read book A Concrete Introduction to Higher Algebra written by Lindsay N. Childs and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-04 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An informal and readable introduction to higher algebra at the post-calculus level. The concepts of ring and field are introduced through study of the familiar examples of the integers and polynomials, with much emphasis placed on congruence classes leading the way to finite groups and finite fields. New examples and theory are integrated in a well-motivated fashion and made relevant by many applications -- to cryptography, coding, integration, history of mathematics, and especially to elementary and computational number theory. The later chapters include expositions of Rabiin's probabilistic primality test, quadratic reciprocity, and the classification of finite fields. Over 900 exercises, ranging from routine examples to extensions of theory, are scattered throughout the book, with hints and answers for many of them included in an appendix.