Undergraduate Courses 21-374
Field Theory
Spring: 9 units

The purpose of this course is to provide a successor to Algebraic Structures, with an emphasis on applications of groups and rings within algebra to some major classical problems. These include constructions with a ruler and compass, and the solvability or unsolvability of equations by radicals. It also offers an opportunity to see group theory and basic ring theory ~in action~, and introduces several powerful number theoretic techniques. The basic ideas and methods required to study finite fields will also be introduced. These ideas have recently been applied in a number of areas of theoretical computer science including primality testing and cryptography. 3 hrs. lec. Prerequisite: 21-241, 21-373.