Part I1

Introduction to Group
Representations

Wherever groups disclosed themselves or could be introduced, simplicity

crystallized out of comparative chaos.

E.T. Bell

This part, consisting of two chapters, provides a number of fundamental

properties of group representations. Our treatment of the subject is purely
module-theoretic, i.e. we view representations as modules over the group
algebra RG where R is a commutative ring and G a finite group. We have
attempted to present many results in their greatest generality, e.g. a signif-
icant part of the theory of induced modules is proved without any restric-
tion on the structure of the underlying commutative ring R. A systematic
description of the material is provided by the introductions to individual
chapters .

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