From cube-lovers-errors@curry.epilogue.com Tue Oct 1 19:36:41 1996 Return-Path: cube-lovers-errors@curry.epilogue.com Received: from curry.epilogue.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by curry.epilogue.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id TAA14676; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 19:36:40 -0400 Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@curry.epilogue.com X-Authentication-Warning: coronado.nadn.navy.mil: wdj owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 18:43:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Assoc Prof W David Joyner X-Sender: wdj@coronado To: Riccardo Distasi cc: Cube-Lovers Subject: Re: Intro to cube group theory? In-Reply-To: <9610011619.AA00774@irsip.na.cnr.it> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 1 Oct 1996, Riccardo Distasi wrote: > Dear mathematical cubologists, > I am creeping on this list since a few months, but I have to admit > that most of the more advanced mathematical technicalities are beyond > my understanding, mainly because I lack knowledge of the basic > facts and terminology about groups. > > All I studied about groups was a part of Birkhoff/McLaine's "Algebra" > some 10 years ago. Is there any good reference on groups where I can > educate myself? I would prefer freeware papers over costly and > hard-to-find (at least in Italy) books. Does anybody have a hint for > me? The aim of my training is that of learning about M-conjugacy and > the Shamir algorithm, and to be able to follow the technical > discussions about the Rubik cube that appear on this list. > I think the best book is Bandelow's Inside Rubik's cube and beyond, which might be in a local library. I have lecture notes for a course I'm teaching on the Rubik's cube which I can send you for free. Also, a group-theorist friend of mine has several hundred copies of an elementary group theory book (printed by the US government and I think free) available - you can email me or him (Prof Gaglione, amg@nadn.navy.mil) if you're interested. Finally, Puzzletts is still selling Singmaster's Notes on the Rubik's cube, though they are also out of print. - David Joyner > Riccardo > -- > Riccardo Distasi, ric@irsip.na.cnr.it > >