Bøker av R. P. Burn

This book follows the same successful approach as Dr Burn's previous book on number theory. It consists of a carefully constructed sequence of questions which will enable the reader, through his or her own participation, to generate all the group theory covered by a conventional first university course. An introduction to vector spaces, leading to the study of linear groups, and an introduction to complex numbers, leading to the study of Mobius transformations and stereographic projection, are also included. Quaternions and their relationship to three-dimensional isometries are covered, and the climax of the book is a study of crystallographic groups, with a complete analysis of these groups in two dimensions.

Number theory is concerned with the properties of the natural numbers: 1, 2, 3 ... During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, number theory became established through the work of Fermat, Euler and Gauss. With the hand calculators and computers of today the results of extensive numerical work are instantly available and the road leading to their discoveries may be traversed with comparative care. Now in its second edition, this book consists of a sequence of exercises that will lead readers from quite simple number work to the point where they can prove algebraically the classical results of elementary number theory for themselves. A modern secondary school course in mathematics is sufficient background for the whole book which is designed to be used as an undergraduate course in number theory to be pursued by independent study without supporting lectures.