Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.

This book is written as an introduction to higher algebra for students with a background of a year of calculus. The book developed out of a set of notes for a sophomore-junior level course at the State University of New York at Albany entitled Classical Algebra. In the 1950s and before, it was customary for the first course in algebra to be a course in the theory of equations, consisting of a study of polynomials over the complex, real, and rational numbers, and, to a lesser extent, linear algebra from the point of view of systems of equations. Abstract algebra, that is, the study of groups, rings, and fields, usually followed such a course. In recent years the theory of equations course has disappeared. Without it, students entering abstract algebra courses tend to lack the experience in the algebraic theory of the basic classical examples of the integers and polynomials necessary for understanding, and more importantly, for ap preciating the formalism. To meet this problem, several texts have recently appeared introducing algebra through number theory.

Basic Algebra and Advanced Algebra systematically develop concepts and tools in algebra that are vital to every mathematician, whether pure or applied, aspiring or established. Advanced Algebra includes chapters on modern algebra which treat various topics in commutative and noncommutative algebra and provide introductions to the theory of associative algebras, homological algebras, algebraic number theory, and algebraic geometry. Many examples and hundreds of problems are included, along with hints or complete solutions for most of the problems. Together the two books give the reader a global view of algebra and its role in mathematics as a whole.

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.

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