Math 4

The algebra course is a vast subject and intended to be the foundation for future work in mathematics. Especially, combinatorial group theory is a current interest. I have tried to select important and representative theorems and to organize them in coherent way. One of our guiding principles has therefore been to introduce as early sa possible notions such as injective homomorphisms, asphericity and the notions of an algebraic topological structure. The book contains a wealth of examples and exercises. The exercises range from routine computations to fairly sophisticated theoretical ones. In addition, a number of exercises describe useful computational techniques.