This is Jim Murdock's web page for the Computational Invariant Theory seminar, Spring 2008, Iowa State U. Math Dept.

The seminar will be run by Ken Driessel and Jim Murdock, with Jim beginning.  Ken will be out of town until the end of January, and will probably set up a separate web site after he returns.

The seminar begins Thursday Jan. 17  at 2:10 in room 298 Carver.

The first lecture will be a survey of Grobner bases.  The general plan of the lectures will be to survey the material for the day at the beginning of the period and then turn to proofs and other details.  The room is reserved from 2:10-4:00.  There will be a break at 3:00 and then those who wish will return to discuss proofs, additional examples, and so forth.  Those who attend only 2:10-3:00 should be able to follow the overview but may miss some proofs.

The book we will mostly use is Computational Invariant Theory by Harm Derksen and Gregor Kemper.

I can order copies of this book for seminar participants for around $85 (this is a 33% discount from the list price).  It will take 3-4 weeks from the time an order is placed until the books arrive.  Please let me know as soon as possible if you want a book.  (Two orders have already been placed.)

The first chapter of the book is available in a free pdf file at the Springer web site for the book. 

                    http://www.springer.com/west/home?SGWID=4-102-22-2232396-0&changeHeader=true

Click here for a list of reference books useful for the seminar or for additional reading on the various topics.