An Introduction to Field Theory

Field Theory is a fascinating branch of algebra, with many interesting applications, and its central result, the Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory, is by any standards one of the really important theorems of mathematics. This book brings the reader from the basic definitions to important results and applications, and introduces him to the spirit and some of the techniques of abstract algebra. It is addressed to undergraduates in pure mathematics and presupposes only a little knowledge of elementary group theory. Chapter I develops the elementary properties of rings and fields including the notions of characteristic, prime fields and various types of homomorphisms. In Chapter II extension fields and various ways of classifying them are studies. Chapter III gives an exposition of the Galois Theory, following Artin's approach, and Chapter IV provides a wide variety of applications of the preceding theory. For the second edition Dr Adamson has improved the exposition in places, made corrections and updated the references.