Pretty much finished Stewart's book. I understand the basics of Galois theory now. I've followed most of the proofs, I know enough about rings and fields for my liking at this stage, I understand why we can't trisect an angle or duplicate a cube, and I understand why a general quintic equation is not soluble.
Abstract algebra is back on the shelf, for now at least.
Still got a bit more set theory to finish off, but I've strayed into knot theory for bedtime reading, and have started my quest to understand differential geometry - the old OU course on elementary differential geometry which I plan to cover in the next few weeks before starting on the old OU MSc differential geometry. I think I understand 1-forms now, which is a start.
Galois finished
Pretty much finished Stewart's book. I understand the basics of Galois theory now. I've followed most of the proofs, I know enough about rings and fields for my liking at this stage, I understand why we can't trisect an angle or duplicate a cube, and I understand why a general quintic equation is not soluble.
Abstract algebra is back on the shelf, for now at least.
Still got a bit more set theory to finish off, but I've strayed into knot theory for bedtime reading, and have started my quest to understand differential geometry - the old OU course on elementary differential geometry which I plan to cover in the next few weeks before starting on the old OU MSc differential geometry. I think I understand 1-forms now, which is a start.