Theory of Groups of Finite Order

IN the new edition of Prof. Burnside's standard work important changes have been made by rearrangement of old material, and by addition of new. The main feature, for which many English readers will be very grateful, is the addition of several chapters on groups of linear substitutions. Among the most important of all contributions to group-theory must be reckoned the memoirs of Frobenius in the Berlin Sitzungsberichte; unfortunately they are not very accessible to English students, and are by no means easy to read; hence, Prof. Burnside's connected, and in many ways independent, discussion of this part of the theory is very welcome. In particular, there is a chapter on characteristics, and another on various special applications; it may be noticed, as showing the power and value of the characteristic-theory, that the theorem “every group whose order contains only two distinct primes is soluble,” appears as a corollary.Theory of Groups of Finite Order.By Prof. W. Burnside Second edition. Pp. xxiv + 512. (Cambridge: University Press, 1911.) Price 15s. net.