The present edition differs from the first in several places. In particular our treatment of polycyclic and locally polycyclic groups-the most natural generalizations of the classical concept of a finite soluble group-has been expanded. We thank Ju. M. Gorcakov, V. A. Curkin and V. P. Sunkov for many useful remarks. The Authors Novosibirsk, Akademgorodok, January 14, 1976. v Preface to the First Edition This book consists of notes from lectures given by the authors at Novosi birsk University from 1968 to 1970. Our intention was to set forth just the fundamentals of group theory, avoiding excessive detail and skirting the quagmire of generalizations (however a few generalizations are nonetheless considered-see the last sections of Chapters 6 and 7). We hope that the student desiring to work in the theory of groups, having become acquainted with its fundamentals from these notes, will quickly be able to proceed to the specialist literature on his chosen topic. We have striven not to cross the boundary between abstract and scholastic group theory, elucidating difficult concepts by means of simple examples wherever possible. Four types of examples accompany the theory: numbers under addition, numbers under multiplication, permutations, and matrices.

Fundamentals of Group Theory provides a comprehensive account of the basic theory of groups. Both classic and unique topics in the field are covered, such as an historical look at how Galois viewed groups, a discussion of commutator and Sylow subgroups, and a presentation of Birkhoff’s theorem. Written in a clear and accessible style, the work presents a solid introduction for students wishing to learn more about this widely applicable subject area. This book will be suitable for graduate courses in group theory and abstract algebra, and will also have appeal to advanced undergraduates. In addition it will serve as a valuable resource for those pursuing independent study. Group Theory is a timely and fundamental addition to literature in the study of groups.

" A group is defined by means of the laws of combinations of its symbols," according to a celebrated dictum of Cayley. And this is probably still as good a one-line explanation as any. The concept of a group is surely one of the central ideas of mathematics. Certainly there are a few branches of that science in which groups are not employed implicitly or explicitly. Nor is the use of groups confined to pure mathematics. Quantum theory, molecular and atomic structure, and crystallography are just a few of the areas of science in which the idea of a group as a measure of symmetry has played an important part. The theory of groups is the oldest branch of modern algebra. Its origins are to be found in the work of Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736-1813), Paulo Ruffini (1765-1822), and Evariste Galois (1811-1832) on the theory of algebraic equations. Their groups consisted of permutations of the variables or of the roots of polynomials, and indeed for much of the nineteenth century all groups were finite permutation groups. Nevertheless many of the fundamental ideas of group theory were introduced by these early workers and their successors, Augustin Louis Cauchy (1789-1857), Ludwig Sylow (1832-1918), Camille Jordan (1838-1922) among others. The concept of an abstract group is clearly recognizable in the work of Arthur Cayley (1821-1895) but it did not really win widespread acceptance until Walther von Dyck (1856-1934) introduced presentations of groups.

Foundations of Differentiable Manifolds and Lie Groups gives a clear, detailed, and careful development of the basic facts on manifold theory and Lie Groups. Coverage includes differentiable manifolds, tensors and differentiable forms, Lie groups and homogenous spaces, and integration on manifolds. The book also provides a proof of the de Rham theorem via sheaf cohomology theory and develops the local theory of elliptic operators culminating in a proof of the Hodge theorem.

Introduces the richness of group theory to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, concentrating on the finite aspects. Provides a wealth of exercises and problems to support self-study. Additional online resources on more challenging and more specialised topics can be used as extension material for courses, or for further independent study.