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These notes were prepared for a series of ten lectures given at Regional Conference of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences in June 1971. The bulk of the lectures were on projective dimensions of “very large” modules. Although the material in these notes is not new, there are several places where existing work has been simplified. For example, a commutative local nondomain of global dimension 3 is described without reference to analysis, and the dimension of a quotient field of a polynomial ring rather than a regular local ring is calculated. A derivation of Tor, one step at a time without the usual derived functor machinery, is also included.

This volume constitutes a record of the course in homological algebra given at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in July 1970 under the auspices of the National Science Foundation's Regional Conference project. The nature of the audience required that the course begin with an introduction to the notion of modules over a unitary ring, but permitted rapid development of the theory from that starting point. The first three chapters may be regarded as containin g material essential to any introductory course in homological algebra, while the later chapters reflect the choices actually made by the audience among many possible special topics accessible to those who had mastered the early material. Thus it may be claimed that the course achieved depth of penetration on a narrow front, while it is admitted that breadth of coverage of the entire domain of homological algebra was neither attempted nor achieved.

This book is a standard in this area of mathematics and is invaluable for historical background.

Lefschetz's Topology was written in the period in between the beginning of topology, by Poincaré, and the establishment of algebraic topology as a well-formed subject, separate from point-set or geometric topology. At this time, Lefschetz had already proved his first fixed-point theorems. In some sense, the present book is a description of the broad subject of topology into which Lefschetz's theory of fixed points fits. Lefschetz takes the opportunity to describe some of the important applications of his theory, particularly in algebraic geometry, to problems such as counting intersections of algebraic varieties. He also gives applications to vector distributions, complex spaces, and Kronecker's characteristic theory.

Morse theory is a study of deep connections between analysis and topology. In its classical form, it provides a relationship between the critical points of certain smooth functions on a manifold and the topology of the manifold. It has been used by geometers, topologists, physicists, and others as a remarkably effective tool to study manifolds. In the 1980s and 1990s, Morse theory was extended to infinite dimensions with great success. This book is Morse's own exposition of his ideas. It has been called one of the most important and influential mathematical works of the twentieth century. Calculus of Variations in the Large is certainly one of the essential references on Morse theory.

Radó's colloquium is a systematic treatment of Lebesgue theory, with an emphasis on the work of Morrey and of Radó and his students, especially in two dimensions. At the time, there were important current problems surrounding Lebesgue's theory for parameterized and unparameterized surfaces, which the book addresses. The exposition begins with reviews of Lebesgue integration and relevant topics in topology, including Fréchet equivalence, the approximation of monotone maps by homeomorphisms, Peano spaces, and a discussion of the topological index of maps into the plane. After a development of further ideas and tools from topology and measure theory, Radó addresses an essential question that equates two sorts of areas for surfaces represented by maps of a 2-cell or a 2-sphere into 3-space.

This book, immediately striking for its conciseness, is one of the most remarkable works ever produced on the subject of algebraic functions and their integrals. The distinguishing feature of the book is its third chapter, on rational functions, which gives an extremely brief and clear account of the theory of divisors.... A very readable account is given of the topology of Riemann surfaces and of the general properties of abelian integrals. Abel's theorem is presented, with some simple applications. The inversion problem is studied for the cases of genus zero and genus unity. The chapter on the reduction of singularities is very noteworthy.... A final chapter illustrates the general theory with some examples. In particular, constructive methods are given for treating algebraic relations which are of the third degree in one of the variables.... The arithmetic theory of algebraic functions is a good thing. In making its study easy, Bliss has performed a service which will win him the gratitude of an ever increasing number of readers. —Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society

This book studies fundamental properties of the logarithmic potential and their connections to the theory of Fourier series, to potential theory, and to function theory. The material centers around a study of Poisson's integral in two dimensions and of the corresponding Stieltjes integral. The results are then extended to the integrals in terms of Green's functions for general regions. There are some thirty exercises scattered throughout the text. These are designed in part to familiarize the reader with the concepts introduced, and in part to complement the theory. The reader should know something of potential theory, functions of a complex variable, and Lebesgue integrals. The book is based on lectures given by the author in 1924–1925 at the Rice Institute and at the University of Chicago.

Spaces of Fundamental and Generalized Functions, Volume 2, analyzes the general theory of linear topological spaces. The basis of the theory of generalized functions is the theory of the so-called countably normed spaces (with compatible norms), their unions (inductive limits), and also of the spaces conjugate to the countably normed ones or their unions. This set of spaces is sufficiently broad on the one hand, and sufficiently convenient for the analyst on the other. The book opens with a chapter that discusses the theory of these spaces. This is followed by separate chapters on fundamental and generalized functions, Fourier transformations of fundamental and generalized functions, and spaces of type S.