Description

This book provides an introduction to representations of both finite and compact groups. The proofs of the basic results are given for the finite case, but are so phrased as to hold without change for compact topological groups with an invariant integral replacing the sum over the group elements as an averaging tool. Among the topics covered are the relation between representations and characters, the construction of irreducible representations, induced representations and Frobenius reciprocity. Special emphasis is given to exterior powers, with the symmetric group Sn as an illustrative example. The book concludes with a chapter comparing the representations of the finite group SL2(p) and the non-compact Lie group SL2(P).