Hey I’m looking for a good intro to group theory textbook. I have been studying some cryptography and some interesting permutation problems which require group theory. I don’t have a very good basis to understand these though. Could somebody recommend me some resources for group theory?
I have skimmed Carter's <i>Visual Group Theory</i> and it looks fantastic. A good choice if you have a lot of time, and want a thorough introduction to the basics with lots of intuition-building and examples.<p>If you want something more traditional -- sparse and fairly terse, largely theorem-proof based, and with most of the action in the exercises -- Saracino's <i>Abstract Algebra</i> is my favorite in this genre.
If you're looking for an accessible introduction/overview, try <i>Contemporary Abstract Algebra</i> by Joseph A. Gallian. It also includes lots of applications, some of which are relevant to cryptography.