Local Algebra [Paperback]

This is an English translation of the now classic Algbre Locale - Multiplicits originally published by Springer as LNM 11. It gives a short account of the main theorems of commutative algebra, with emphasis on modules, homological methods and intersection multiplicities. Many modifications to the original French text have been made for this English edition, making the text easier to read, without changing its intended informal character.The present book is an English translation of Algebre Locale - Multiplicites published by Springer-Verlag as no. 11 of the Lecture Notes series. The original text was based on a set of lectures, given at the College de France in 1957-1958, and written up by Pierre Gabriel. Its aim was to give a short account of Commutative Algebra, with emphasis on the following topics: a) Modules (as opposed to Rings, which were thought to be the only subject of Commutative Algebra, before the emergence of sheaf theory in the 1950s); b) H omological methods, a la Cartan-Eilenberg; c) Intersection multiplicities, viewed as Euler-Poincare characteristics. The English translation, done with great care by Chee Whye Chin, differs from the original in the following aspects: - The terminology has been brought up to date (e.g. cohomological dimension has been replaced by the now customary depth ). I have rewritten a few proofs and clarified (or so I hope) a few more. - A section on graded algebras has been added (App. III to Chap. IV). - New references have been given, especially to other books on Commu- tive Algebra: Bourbaki (whose Chap. X has now appeared, after a 40-year wait) , Eisenbud, Matsumura, Roberts, .... I hope that these changes will make the text easier to read, without changing its informal Lecture Notes character.I. Prime Ideals and Localization.- ?1. Notation and definitions.- ?2. Nakayamas lemma.- ?3. Localization.- ?4. Noetherian rings and modules.- ?5. Spectrum.- ?6. The noetherian case.- ?7. Associated prime ideals.- ?8. PrimarlÓË