Calculus

PopularpuzzlessuchastheRubik'scubeandso-calledovaltrackpuzzlesgiveaconcreterepresentationtothetheoryofpermutationgroups.Theyarerelativelysimpletodescribeingrouptheoreticterms,yetpresentachallengetoanyonetryingtosolvethem.JohnKiltinenshowshowthetheoryofpermutationgroupscanbeusedtosolvearangeofpuzzles.ThereisalsoanaccompanyingCDthatcanbeusedtoreducetheneedforcarryingoutlongcalculationsandmemorisingdifficultsequencesofmoves.Thisbookwillproveusefulassupplementalmaterialforstudentstakingabstractalgebracourses.Itprovidesarealapplicationofthetheoryandmethodsofpermutationgroups,oneofthestandardtopics.Itwillalsobeofinteresttoanyonewithaninterestinpuzzlesandabasicgroundinginmathematics.Theauthorhasprovidedplentyofexercisesandexamplestoaidstudy.