Originally published in 1985, this classic textbook is an English
translation of Einführung in die kommutative Algebra und algebraische
Geometrie. As part of the Modern Birkhäuser Classics series, the
publisher is proud to make Introduction to Commutative Algebra and
Algebraic Geometry available to a wider audience.
Aimed at students who have taken a basic course in algebra, the goal of
the text is to present important results concerning the representation
of algebraic varieties as intersections of the least possible number of
hypersurfaces and--a closely related problem--with the most economical
generation of ideals in Noetherian rings. Along the way, one encounters
many basic concepts of commutative algebra and algebraic geometry and
proves many facts which can then serve as a basic stock for a deeper
study of these subjects.