Galois Theory, David Cox (Wiley-Interscience, 2004). It usually felt like the job of my teachers was to crush my desire to learn things about the world. For example I still remember the math class early in high school where a teacher derived for us the
For years my favorite piece of data (taped to my office door) had those words scribbled on the bottom*. So I was never the smartest in my class, not even close. But I do wonder if (worry that) we don't support, challenge, encourage, our best and brightest kids enough. Or maybe that is best left to the family? (I was going to write that bright kids are a precious resource, but that just sounds insulting to everyone.)
*Far-IR spectroscopy of semiconductors, a symmetry in the electron and hole wavefunctions allowed us to designate the exciton absorptions we were observing... details not important.
Galois theory seems to be one of those subjects that lends itself to attractive exposition. I had a similar experience when I was the same age with Joseph Rotman's book. And, I, too, saw much of myself and my own failings in Galois' mercurial, intense persona.
"What immortal hand or eye,
could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
For years my favorite piece of data (taped to my office door) had those words scribbled on the bottom*. So I was never the smartest in my class, not even close. But I do wonder if (worry that) we don't support, challenge, encourage, our best and brightest kids enough. Or maybe that is best left to the family? (I was going to write that bright kids are a precious resource, but that just sounds insulting to everyone.)
*Far-IR spectroscopy of semiconductors, a symmetry in the electron and hole wavefunctions allowed us to designate the exciton absorptions we were observing... details not important.
Galois theory seems to be one of those subjects that lends itself to attractive exposition. I had a similar experience when I was the same age with Joseph Rotman's book. And, I, too, saw much of myself and my own failings in Galois' mercurial, intense persona.
What is the baseline familiarity/experience with mathematics necessary to make sense of this book?