"Abstract Algebra: An Interactive Approach" is a new concept in learning modern algebra. Although all the expected topics are covered thoroughly and in the most popular order, the text does offer much flexibility. Perhaps more significantly, it gives professors and students the option of including technology in the course. Each chapter in the textbook has a corresponding interactive Mathematica notebook and an interactive SageMath workbook which can be used either in the classroom, or outsideof the classroom.

Students will be able to visualize the important abstract concepts, such as groups and rings (by displaying multiplication tables), homomorphisms (by showing a line graph between two groups), and permutations. This in turn allows the students to learn these difficult concepts much more quickly and obtain a firmer grasp than with a traditional textbook. Thus, the colorful diagrams produced by Mathematica give added value to the students.

Teachers can run the Mathematica or SageMath notebooks in the classroom to have the studentvisualizethedynamicsofgroupsandrings.Studentshavetheoptionofrunning the notebooks at home, and experiment with different groups or rings.Some of the exercises require technology, but most of the exercises are of the standard type, with various difficulty levels.

The third edition is focused for use in an undergraduate single semester course and reduces the breadth of coverage, size, and cost of the previous editions. Additional changes include:

Binary operators are now in an independent section.

The extended Euclidean algorithm is included.

Many more homework problems are added to some sections

Mathematical induction is moved to section 1.2.

In spite of the additional software emphasis, the text is not short on rigor.All of the classical proofs are included, although some of the harder proofs can be shortened by using technology.

About the Author
William Paulsen is a professor of mathematics at Arkansas State University. He is the author of Abstract Algebra: An Interactive Approach (CRC Press, 2009) and has published over 15 papers in applied mathematics, one of which proves that Penrose tiles can be three-colored, thus resolving a 30-year-old open problem posed by John H. Conway. Dr. Paulsen has also programmed several new games and puzzles in Javascript and C++, including Duelling Dimensions, which was syndicated through Knight Features. He received a Ph.D. in mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis.


Book Information
ISBN 9781032985404
Author William Paulsen
Format Hardback
Page Count 556
Imprint Chapman & Hall/CRC
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd