subject easy by glossing over difficulties, but rather tries to help the genuinely interested reader by throwing light on the interconnections and purposes of the whole. Instead of obstructing the access to the wealth of facts by lengthy discussions of a fundamental nature we have sometimes postponed such discussions to appendices in the various chapters. Numerous examples and problems are given at the end of various chapters. Some are challenging, some are even difficult; most of them supplement the material in the text.

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