Man sollte weniger danach streben, die Grenzen der mathe matischen Wissenschaften zu erweitern, als vielmehr danach, den bereits vorhandenen Stoff aus umfassenderen Gesichts punkten zu betrachten - E. Study Today most mathematicians who know about Kronecker's theory of divisors know about it from having read Hermann Weyl's lectures on algebraic number theory [We], and regard it, as Weyl did, as an alternative to Dedekind's theory of ideals. Weyl's axiomatization of what he calls "Kronecker's" theory is built-as Dedekind's theory was built-around unique factor ization. However, in presenting the theory in this way, Weyl overlooks one of Kronecker's most valuable ideas, namely, the idea that the objective of the theory is to define greatest com mon divisors, not to achieve factorization into primes. The reason Kronecker gave greatest common divisors the primary role is simple: they are independent of the ambient field while factorization into primes is not. The very notion of primality depends on the field under consideration-a prime in one field may factor in a larger field-so if the theory is founded on factorization into primes, extension of the field entails a completely new theory. Greatest common divisors, on the other hand, can be defined in a manner that does not change at all when the field is extended (see
1.16). Only after he has laid the foundation of the theory of divisors does Kronecker consider factorization of divisors into divisors prime in some specified field.

Autorentext

Harold M. Edwards [1936-2020] was Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at New York University. His research interests lay in number theory, algebra, and the history and philosophy of mathematics. He authored numerous books, including Riemann's Zeta Function (1974, 2001) and Fermat's Last Theorem (1977), for which he received the Leroy P. Steele Prize for mathematical exposition in 1980. David A. Cox (Contributing Author) is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of Amherst College. He received the Leroy P. Steele Prize for mathematical exposition in 2016 for his book Ideals, Varieties, and Algorithms, with John Little and Donal O'Shea.

Zusammenfassung
This work presents a modern approach to a remarkable algebraic technique. It should be of interest to both the mathematical historian and the working specialist in commutative algebra, number theory and algebraic geometry.

Inhalt
0. A Theorem of Polynomial Algebra.- 1. The General Theory.- 2. Applications to Algebraic Number Theory.- 3. Applications to the Theory of Algebraic Curves.- References.