Toric Varieties

by

David A. Cox
Amherst College

John B. Little
College of the Holy Cross

Hal Schenck
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign



The Book

The study of toric varieties is a wonderful part of algebraic geometry that has deep connections with polyhedral geometry. Our book will be an introduction to this rich subject that assumes only a modest knowledge of algebraic geometry. There are elegant theorems, unexpected applications, and marvelous examples that illustrate the scope and power of modern algbraic geometry.

You can get a better idea of what the book will cover by looking at the current version of the preface. It is available in postscript and pdf .

The August 2008 Version

So far, seven chapters have been completed:

Other chapters are in the process of being written and may be available upon request, depending on their condition. We anticipate completing the manuscript by Summer 2010.

Downloading the Book

We are making the August 2008 version of the book freely available. Our hope is that people will use read the manuscript on their own or use it for courses and give us feedback about what works and what doesn't. We of course are also happy to hear about any typographical or mathematical errors you might find.

The August 2008 version is available in postscript and pdf . The postscript version is of higher quality, so we recommend using this version if possible. Some fonts (especially accents) did not translate gracefully to pdf, though the pdf version is still fully readable.

Once the book is published, the free version will no longer be available.


Contacting the Authors

You can contact the authors at the following email address:

dac@cs.amherst.edu

The web site for the book is:

http://www.cs.amherst.edu/~dac/toric.html