Finite Fields, with Applications to Combinatorics

Finite Fields, with Applications to Combinatorics

Author: Kannan Soundararajan

Publisher: American Mathematical Society

Published: 2022-11-09

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 1470469308

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This book uses finite field theory as a hook to introduce the reader to a range of ideas from algebra and number theory. It constructs all finite fields from scratch and shows that they are unique up to isomorphism. As a payoff, several combinatorial applications of finite fields are given: Sidon sets and perfect difference sets, de Bruijn sequences and a magic trick of Persi Diaconis, and the polynomial time algorithm for primality testing due to Agrawal, Kayal and Saxena. The book forms the basis for a one term intensive course with students meeting weekly for multiple lectures and a discussion session. Readers can expect to develop familiarity with ideas in algebra (groups, rings and fields), and elementary number theory, which would help with later classes where these are developed in greater detail. And they will enjoy seeing the AKS primality test application tying together the many disparate topics from the book. The pre-requisites for reading this book are minimal: familiarity with proof writing, some linear algebra, and one variable calculus is assumed. This book is aimed at incoming undergraduate students with a strong interest in mathematics or computer science.


Algebraic Geometry

Algebraic Geometry

Author: Michael Artin

Publisher: American Mathematical Society

Published: 2022-09-21

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 1470471116

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This book is an introduction to the geometry of complex algebraic varieties. It is intended for students who have learned algebra, analysis, and topology, as taught in standard undergraduate courses. So it is a suitable text for a beginning graduate course or an advanced undergraduate course. The book begins with a study of plane algebraic curves, then introduces affine and projective varieties, going on to dimension and constructibility. $mathcal{O}$-modules (quasicoherent sheaves) are defined without reference to sheaf theory, and their cohomology is defined axiomatically. The Riemann-Roch Theorem for curves is proved using projection to the projective line. Some of the points that aren't always treated in beginning courses are Hensel's Lemma, Chevalley's Finiteness Theorem, and the Birkhoff-Grothendieck Theorem. The book contains extensive discussions of finite group actions, lines in $mathbb{P}^3$, and double planes, and it ends with applications of the Riemann-Roch Theorem.