Like its popular predecessors, A First Course in Abstract Algebra: Rings, Groups, and Fields, Third Edition develops ring theory first by drawing on students familiarity with integers and polynomials. This unique approach motivates students in the study of abstract algebra and helps them understand the power of abstraction. The authors introduce groups later on using examples of symmetries of figures in the plane and space as well as permutations.

New to the Third Edition

• Makes it easier to teach unique factorization as an optional...