In this tract, Dr Ruston presents analogues for operators on Banach
spaces of Fredholm's solution of integral equations of the second kind.
Much of the presentation is based on research carried out over the last
twenty-five years and has never appeared in book form before. Dr Ruston
begins with the construction for operators of finite rank, using
Fredholm's original method as a guide. He then considers formulae that
have structure similar to those obtained by Fredholm, using, and
developing further, the relationship with Riesz theory. In particular,
he obtains bases for the finite-dimensional subspaces figuring in the
Riesz theory. Finally he returns to the study of specific constructions
for various classes of operators. Dr Ruston has made every effort to
keep the presentation as elementary as possible, using arguments that do
not require a very advanced background. Thus the book can be read with
profit by graduate students as well as specialists working in the
general area of functional analysis and its applications.