BMTC-134

About the Course

Algebra is a word that you are familiar with. You may also know that it is derived from the Arabic word ‘Al-jabr’. Classically, algebra was concerned with obtaining solutions of equations. Then came ‘modern algebra’, a term used to describe detailed investigations within classical algebra. In Block 1 of the course, Calculus, you have studied some of the concepts of modern algebra – sets and operations on them, functions, a binary operation on a set, an algebraic way of studying plane geometry, properties of complex numbers, what a polynomial over R is, and solutions of some polynomial equations. In this course, we shall build on this learning, and take you much further. In this course, we will focus on ‘abstract algebra’, a generalisation of modern algebra. In abstract algebra we study algebraic systems that are defined by axioms alone. These axioms normally evolve from concrete situations. In this course, comprising four blocks, you will study three basic algebraic systems, namely, groups, rings and fields.