A short Introduction text to Algebra

Question

I was looking for a "short" textbook or lecture notes to undergrad Algebra, with focus on Rings, Fields and Groups.

For "short", I meant that I need something around 200 pages or less.

Answer 1

I would not advise using Herstein's book. It's quite terse and hard to follow if you are looking for a truly introductory text. I would recommend Joseph Gallian's Contemporary Abstract Algebra or John Durbin's Modern Algebra. Another possibility is Dummit and Foote's Abstract Algebra, though this is usually a text used in first year graduate courses, so it may be a bit advanced.

Answer 2

I really enjoyed Fraleigh's book.

Fraleigh, John B., A first course in abstract algebra. 2nd ed, Addison-Wesley Series in Mathematics. Reading, Mass. etc.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. XVIII, 455 p. (1976). ZBL0365.00007.

Sorry, it's a little longer than I remembered. .. Maybe try Herstein's book. Still remember his description of the distributive property as interweaving multiplication and addition...