Thread: nice little book on Galois theory

In case anyone is interested, I found a very nice little book on Amazon called "Galois Theory" by Emil Artin. It explains this rather 'heady' topic about as well as it can be explained. It's from lectures given at Notre Dame, I think.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, it can be obtained from Amazon for about $8.

Originally Posted by galactus

In case anyone is interested, I found a very nice little book on Amazon called "Galois Theory" by Emil Artin. It explains this rather 'heady' topic about as well as it can be explained. It's from lectures given at Notre Dame, I think.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, it can be obtained from Amazon for about $8.

It looks too small. Galois Theory itself can be probably written in under 10 pages. But that is assuming all the prequistes exist. Most books on Galois theory are small but not that small, they go over some topics that are necessary.

How advanced is it? Does it mention stuff like Solvable groups, seperable extensions, splitting fields ....

How advanced is it? Does it mention stuff like Solvable groups, seperable extensions, splitting fields ....

Yes.

I just realized that the author is Emil Artin. I heard of him before, he was a leading expert in field theory.

Intially field theory 200 years ago by Galois an Abel looked nothing like it is today. Later mathematicians redone some of their idea. I believe Leopold Kroneckor and Ernst Kummer from the turn of the 20th century modernized much of it. It was Emil Artin who introduced the concepts of Galois groups and Field automorphisms. In fact, if you open an new book on this subject most of its developement is based on Artin.