An Introduction to Module Theory (Oxford Graduate Texts in Mathematics)

Module theory is a fundamental area of algebra, taught in most universities at the graduate level. This textbook, written by two experienced teachers and researchers in the area, is based on courses given in their respective universities over the last thirty years. It is an accessible and modern account of module theory, meant as a textbook for graduate or advanced undergraduate students, though it can also be used for self-study. It is aimed at students in algebra, or students who need algebraic tools in their work. Following the recent trends in the area, the general approach stresses from the start the use of categorical and homological techniques. The book includes self-contained introductions to category theory and homological algebra with applications to Module theory, and also contains an introduction to representations of quivers. It includes a very large number of examples of all kinds worked out in detail, mostly of abelian groups, modules over matrix algebras, polynomial algebras, or algebras given by bound quivers. In order to help visualise and analyse examples, it includes many figures. Each section is followed by exercises of all levels of difficulty, both computational and theoretical, with hints provided to some of them.