Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

But you must take it for what it is.
This is not a standard linear algebra text. If you're looking for an introductory book or even a geometrical-themed supplement to an introductory book, this is NOT what you are looking for. Baer assumes you have already mastered standard linear algebra, and are quite familar with fields, groups, rings, isomorphisms, homomorphisms, Galois theory, etc. He also assumes you have a grasp of the concepts and theorems of projective (and some affine) geometry. There are no explicit exercises or problems, but more than a few non-trivial statements/theorems and non-obvious facts are left for the reader to prove or justify. The table of contents can be found at:
http://web.doverpublications.com/cgi-bin/toc.pl/0486445658

This book is a good follow-up to _Linear Algebra: A Geometric Approach_ by Sernesi (Chapman & Hall), which is "introductory" (although not really for the rank beginner) and mostly focuses on affine geometry. If you're looking for a geometric supplement for an introductory course, try _A Vector Space Approach to Geometry_ by Hausner (Dover).

With those caveats out of the way, this is great book, even if upon first reading some sections are so dense that they bend light. But as you work through it, there are many moments of illumination if you have a bent for the interplay and fundamental equivalence between algebra and geometry. But it isn't spoon-fed to you.
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