Fulton’s Algebraic Curves

William Fulton has made his book, Algebraic Curves, available for download. Fulton’s book is a classic exposition of algebraic geometry at the level of an advanced undergraduate. It is one of the few undergraduate texts that cover the Riemann-Roch Theorem.

4 Responses to “Fulton’s Algebraic Curves”

  1. Dan says:

    So, I have a general question, based on the root of the word algebraic.

    I hear people talk about the relational algebra (CJ Date, not SQL, etc). But I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone talk about the relational calculus. Yet I’ve heard both “algebra” and “calculus” as terms that don’t necessarily just mean the things thus called that we learned in high school.

    What is “an algebra?” How does it differ from “a calculus?” (I’ve read the Abstract Algebra and Universal Algebra topics on wikipedia but not taken any beyond-calc3 math classes at college.) What should I be looking for when someone uses those terms in the general sense?

  2. This book is currently being used in my undergraduate course on Algebraic Curves… and I’m finding it quite useful. It was probably chosen on the basis of its freeness, and given the prices of books these days, this should become a priority for more departments…

    I still bought Hartshorne though :P

  3. Todd Trimble says:

    Dan: one often hears the term “calculus of relations”.

  4. John Smith says:

    Useful text, thanks a lot!

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