Exercises in Classical Ring Theory

T.Y. Lam0387005005, 9780387005003, 9780387217710

The first work of its kind, this volume offers a compendium of some 480 exercises of varying degrees of difficulty in classical ring theory. The material covered includes the Wedderburn-Artin theory of semisimple rings, Jacobson’s theory of the radical, representation theory of groups and algebras, prime and semiprime rings, primitive and semiprimitive rings, division rings, ordered rings, local and semilocal rings, the theory of idempotents, and perfect and semiperfect rings. Each section begins with an introduction giving the general background and the theoretical basis for the problems that follow. All exercises are solved in full detail; many are accompanied by pertinent historical and bibliographical information, or a commentary on possible improvements and generalizations.
An outgrowth of the author’s lecture courses and seminars at the University of California at Berkeley, this book provides an excellent introduction to problem-solving in ring theory. It can be used either as a companion to the author’s A First Course in Noncommutative Rings (from which most of the exercises are selected), or as a source for independent study. For students and researchers alike, this book will also serve as a handy reference for much of the “folklore” in classical ring theory not usually covered in textbooks.
This second edition features more than 80 new exercises, ranging from mildly routine to very challenging. Many of these additional exercises are appearing here for the first time.