The Unity of Combinatorics

The Unity of Combinatorics
Author: Ezra Brown
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2021-04-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1470465094

Combinatorics, or the art and science of counting, is a vibrant and active area of pure mathematical research with many applications. The Unity of Combinatorics succeeds in showing that the many facets of combinatorics are not merely isolated instances of clever tricks but that they have numerous connections and threads weaving them together to form a beautifully patterned tapestry of ideas. Topics include combinatorial designs, combinatorial games, matroids, difference sets, Fibonacci numbers, finite geometries, Pascal's triangle, Penrose tilings, error-correcting codes, and many others. Anyone with an interest in mathematics, professional or recreational, will be sure to find this book both enlightening and enjoyable. Few mathematicians have been as active in this area as Richard Guy, now in his eighth decade of mathematical productivity. Guy is the author of over 300 papers and twelve books in geometry, number theory, graph theory, and combinatorics. In addition to being a life-long number-theorist and combinatorialist, Guy's co-author, Ezra Brown, is a multi-award-winning expository writer. Together, Guy and Brown have produced a book that, in the spirit of the founding words of the Carus book series, is accessible “not only to mathematicians but to scientific workers and others with a modest mathematical background.”

Combinatorics Advances

Combinatorics Advances
Author: Charles J. Colbourn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2013-12-01
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 146133554X

On March 28~31, 1994 (Farvardin 8~11, 1373 by Iranian calendar), the Twenty fifth Annual Iranian Mathematics Conference (AIMC25) was held at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Its sponsors in~ eluded the Iranian Mathematical Society, and the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Sharif University of Technology. Among the keynote speakers were Professor Dr. Andreas Dress and Professor Richard K. Guy. Their plenary lec~ tures on combinatorial themes were complemented by invited and contributed lectures in a Combinatorics Session. This book is a collection of refereed papers, submitted primarily by the participants after the conference. The topics covered are diverse, spanning a wide range of combinatorics and al~ lied areas in discrete mathematics. Perhaps the strength and variety of the pa~ pers here serve as the best indications that combinatorics is advancing quickly, and that the Iranian mathematics community contains very active contributors. We hope that you find the papers mathematically stimulating, and look forward to a long and productive growth of combinatorial mathematics in Iran.

Combinatorics: The Art of Counting

Combinatorics: The Art of Counting
Author: Bruce E. Sagan
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2020-10-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1470460327

This book is a gentle introduction to the enumerative part of combinatorics suitable for study at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. In addition to covering all the standard techniques for counting combinatorial objects, the text contains material from the research literature which has never before appeared in print, such as the use of quotient posets to study the Möbius function and characteristic polynomial of a partially ordered set, or the connection between quasisymmetric functions and pattern avoidance. The book assumes minimal background, and a first course in abstract algebra should suffice. The exposition is very reader friendly: keeping a moderate pace, using lots of examples, emphasizing recurring themes, and frankly expressing the delight the author takes in mathematics in general and combinatorics in particular.

Combinatorics: The Rota Way

Combinatorics: The Rota Way
Author: Joseph P. S. Kung
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2009-02-09
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1139476769

Gian-Carlo Rota was one of the most original and colourful mathematicians of the 20th century. His work on the foundations of combinatorics focused on the algebraic structures that lie behind diverse combinatorial areas, and created a new area of algebraic combinatorics. Written by two of his former students, this book is based on notes from his influential graduate courses and on face-to-face discussions. Topics include sets and valuations, partially ordered sets, distributive lattices, partitions and entropy, matching theory, free matrices, doubly stochastic matrices, Moebius functions, chains and antichains, Sperner theory, commuting equivalence relations and linear lattices, modular and geometric lattices, valuation rings, generating functions, umbral calculus, symmetric functions, Baxter algebras, unimodality of sequences, and location of zeros of polynomials. Many exercises and research problems are included, and unexplored areas of possible research are discussed. A must-have for all students and researchers in combinatorics and related areas.

Analytic Combinatorics

Analytic Combinatorics
Author: Philippe Flajolet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 825
Release: 2009-01-15
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1139477161

Analytic combinatorics aims to enable precise quantitative predictions of the properties of large combinatorial structures. The theory has emerged over recent decades as essential both for the analysis of algorithms and for the study of scientific models in many disciplines, including probability theory, statistical physics, computational biology, and information theory. With a careful combination of symbolic enumeration methods and complex analysis, drawing heavily on generating functions, results of sweeping generality emerge that can be applied in particular to fundamental structures such as permutations, sequences, strings, walks, paths, trees, graphs and maps. This account is the definitive treatment of the topic. The authors give full coverage of the underlying mathematics and a thorough treatment of both classical and modern applications of the theory. The text is complemented with exercises, examples, appendices and notes to aid understanding. The book can be used for an advanced undergraduate or a graduate course, or for self-study.

The Surprising Mathematics of Longest Increasing Subsequences

The Surprising Mathematics of Longest Increasing Subsequences
Author: Dan Romik
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2015-02-02
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1107075831

In a surprising sequence of developments, the longest increasing subsequence problem, originally mentioned as merely a curious example in a 1961 paper, has proven to have deep connections to many seemingly unrelated branches of mathematics, such as random permutations, random matrices, Young tableaux, and the corner growth model. The detailed and playful study of these connections makes this book suitable as a starting point for a wider exploration of elegant mathematical ideas that are of interest to every mathematician and to many computer scientists, physicists and statisticians. The specific topics covered are the Vershik-Kerov-Logan-Shepp limit shape theorem, the Baik-Deift-Johansson theorem, the Tracy-Widom distribution, and the corner growth process. This exciting body of work, encompassing important advances in probability and combinatorics over the last forty years, is made accessible to a general graduate-level audience for the first time in a highly polished presentation.

102 Combinatorial Problems

102 Combinatorial Problems
Author: Titu Andreescu
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 125
Release: 2013-11-27
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0817682228

"102 Combinatorial Problems" consists of carefully selected problems that have been used in the training and testing of the USA International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) team. Key features: * Provides in-depth enrichment in the important areas of combinatorics by reorganizing and enhancing problem-solving tactics and strategies * Topics include: combinatorial arguments and identities, generating functions, graph theory, recursive relations, sums and products, probability, number theory, polynomials, theory of equations, complex numbers in geometry, algorithmic proofs, combinatorial and advanced geometry, functional equations and classical inequalities The book is systematically organized, gradually building combinatorial skills and techniques and broadening the student's view of mathematics. Aside from its practical use in training teachers and students engaged in mathematical competitions, it is a source of enrichment that is bound to stimulate interest in a variety of mathematical areas that are tangential to combinatorics.

Mathematical Omnibus

Mathematical Omnibus
Author: D. B. Fuks
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2007
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0821843168

The book consists of thirty lectures on diverse topics, covering much of the mathematical landscape rather than focusing on one area. The reader will learn numerous results that often belong to neither the standard undergraduate nor graduate curriculum and will discover connections between classical and contemporary ideas in algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and topology. The reader's effort will be rewarded in seeing the harmony of each subject. The common thread in the selected subjects is their illustration of the unity and beauty of mathematics. Most lectures contain exercises, and solutions or answers are given to selected exercises. A special feature of the book is an abundance of drawings (more than four hundred), artwork by an accomplished artist, and about a hundred portraits of mathematicians. Almost every lecture contains surprises for even the seasoned researcher.

Algebraic Combinatorics

Algebraic Combinatorics
Author: Richard P. Stanley
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2013-06-17
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1461469988

Written by one of the foremost experts in the field, Algebraic Combinatorics is a unique undergraduate textbook that will prepare the next generation of pure and applied mathematicians. The combination of the author’s extensive knowledge of combinatorics and classical and practical tools from algebra will inspire motivated students to delve deeply into the fascinating interplay between algebra and combinatorics. Readers will be able to apply their newfound knowledge to mathematical, engineering, and business models. The text is primarily intended for use in a one-semester advanced undergraduate course in algebraic combinatorics, enumerative combinatorics, or graph theory. Prerequisites include a basic knowledge of linear algebra over a field, existence of finite fields, and group theory. The topics in each chapter build on one another and include extensive problem sets as well as hints to selected exercises. Key topics include walks on graphs, cubes and the Radon transform, the Matrix–Tree Theorem, and the Sperner property. There are also three appendices on purely enumerative aspects of combinatorics related to the chapter material: the RSK algorithm, plane partitions, and the enumeration of labeled trees. Richard Stanley is currently professor of Applied Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Stanley has received several awards including the George Polya Prize in applied combinatorics, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Leroy P. Steele Prize for mathematical exposition. Also by the author: Combinatorics and Commutative Algebra, Second Edition, © Birkhauser.