A Course in Commutative Banach Algebras (Graduate Texts in Mathematics) <Vol. 246>

Banach algebras are Banach spaces equipped with a continuous multipli- tion. Much of operator theory is best approached from a Banach algebra point of view and many questions in complex analysis (such as approximation by polynomials or rational functions in speci?c - mains) are best understood within the framework of Banach algebras.