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This volume contains survey articles based on the invited lectures given at the Twentieth British Combinatorial Conference, organized jointly by the University of Durham and the Open University. It was held in July 2005 at the University of Durham. This biennial conference is a well-established international event, with speakers from all over the world. By its nature this volume provides an up-to-date overview of current research activity in several areas of combinatorics, ranging from combinatorial number theory to geometry. The authors are some of the world's foremost researchers in their fields. ... Read more

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Proceedings of the Euroconference Algebraic Combinatorics and Applications, ALCOMA, held in Gobweinstein, Germany, September 12-19, 1999. Topics covered include the entire spectrum, from chemical structure elucidation to solid state physics contributions. Softcover. DLC: Combinatorial analysis--Congresses. ... Read more

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This volume is based upon work done by the author and his collaborators over a period of approximately twenty years and is dedicated to some selected topics of quantum field theory, which have proved of increasing importance with the passing of time.There are three parts: Combinatoric Methods; Equations for Green's Functions and Perturbative Expansions; Regularization, Renormalization, and Mass Equations.This work will be useful to anyone interested in learning or using quantum field theory, many-body physics and, as well, to many applied mathematicians, because it introduces a number of combinatoric and analytic tools which drastically simplify, and at times bypass, treatments which customarily take up most of the bulk of the standard texts.It is part of the Frontiers in Physics series, edited by David Pines. ... Read more

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During 1996-97 MSRI held a full academic-year program on combinatorics, with special emphasis on its connections to other branches of mathematics, such as algebraic geometry, topology, commutative algebra, representation theory, and convex geometry. The rich combinatorial problems arising from the study of various algebraic structures are the subject of this book, which features work done or presented at the program's seminars. The text contains contributions on matroid bundles, combinatorial representation theory, lattice points in polyhedra, bilinear forms, combinatorial differential topology and geometry, Macdonald polynomials and geometry, enumeration of matchings, the generalized Baues problem, and Littlewood-Richardson semigroups.These expository articles, written by some of the most respected researchers in the field, present the state of the art to graduate students and researchers in combinatorics as well as in algebra, geometry, and topology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful collection of research-expository surveys
This volume contains expository introductions to some of the most excitingresearch areas in algebraic combinatorics.Although most of the articlesbegan life as a lecture at MSRI, the authors have done much more thanpublish transcripts of their talks; they have produced carefully writtenarticles that contain much information that they could not present duringthe severe time constraints of the original combinatorics seminar.Anyoneinterested in entering one of the fields touched upon in this volume wouldbe hard-pressed to find a better way to get started than to study therelevant article in this book.

Since the articles were written there haveof course been advances; I will just mention that a number of Jim Propp'smatchings problems have been solved, and that Mark Haiman has proved the n!conjecture.

Contents: Matroid bundles (L. Anderson); Combinatorialrepresentation theory (H. Barcelo, A. Ram); An algorithmic theory oflattice points in polyhedra (A. Barvinok, J. E. Pommersheim); Somealgebraic properties of the Schechtman-Varchenko bilinear forms (G. Denham,P. Hanlon); Combinatorial differential topology and geometry (R. Forman);Macdonald polynomials and geometry (M. Haiman); Enumeration of matchings:problems and progress (J. Propp); The generalized Baues problem (V.Reiner); Littlewoord-Richardson semigroups (A. Zelevinsky). ... Read more

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Combinatorics of Spreads and Parallelisms covers all known finite and infinite parallelisms as well as the planes comprising them. It also presents a complete analysis of general spreads and partitions of vector spaces that provide groups enabling the construction of subgeometry partitions of projective spaces.

The book describes general partitions of finite and infinite vector spaces, including Sperner spaces, focal-spreads, and their associated geometries. Since retraction groups provide quasi-subgeometry and subgeometry partitions of projective spaces, the author thoroughly discusses subgeometry partitions and their construction methods. He also features focal-spreads as partitions of vector spaces by subspaces. In addition to presenting many new examples of finite and infinite parallelisms, the book shows that doubly transitive or transitive t-parallelisms cannot exist unless the parallelism is a line parallelism.

Along with the author’s other three books (Subplane Covered Nets, Foundations of Translation Planes, Handbook of Finite Translation Planes), this text forms a solid, comprehensive account of the complete theory of the geometries that are connected with translation planes in intricate ways. It explores how to construct interesting parallelisms and how general spreads of vector spaces are used to study and construct subgeometry partitions of projective spaces.

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This book comprises a collection of high quality papers in selected topics of Discrete Mathematics, to celebrate the 60th birthday of Professor Jarik Nešetril. Leading experts have contributed survey and research papers in the areas of Algebraic Combinatorics, Combinatorial Number Theory, Game theory, Ramsey Theory, Graphs and Hypergraphs, Homomorphisms, Graph Colorings and Graph Embeddings.

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This collection of surveys and research papers on recent topics of interest in combinatorics is dedicated to Paul Erdös, who attended the conference and who is represented by two articles in the collection, including one, unfinished, which he was writing on the eve of his sudden death. Erdös was one of the greatest mathematicians of his century and often the subject of anecdotes about his somewhat unusual lifestyle. A new preface, written by friends and colleagues, gives a flavor of his life, including many such stories, and also describes the broad outline and importance of his work in combinatorics and other related fields. ... Read more

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Over the past 20 years, the theory of groups — in particular simple groups, finite and algebraic — has influenced a number of diverse areas of mathematics. Such areas include topics where groups have been traditionally applied, such as algebraic combinatorics, finite geometries, Galois theory and permutation groups, as well as several more recent developments. Among the latter are probabilistic and computational group theory, the theory of algebraic groups over number fields, and model theory, in each of which there has been a major recent impetus provided by simple group theory. In addition, there is still great interest in local analysis in finite groups, with substantial new input from methods of geometry and amalgams, and particular emphasis on the revision project for the classification of finite simple groups.

This important book contains 20 survey articles covering many of the above developments. It should prove invaluable for those working in the theory of groups and its applications. ... Read more

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The growth in digital devices, which require discrete formulation of problems, has revitalized the role of combinatorics, making it indispensable to computer science. Furthermore, the challenges of new technologies have led to its use in industrial processes, communications systems, electrical networks, organic chemical identification, coding theory, economics, and more. With a unique approach, Introduction to Combinatorics builds a foundation for problem-solving in any of these fields. Although combinatorics deals with finite collections of discrete objects, and as such differs from continuous mathematics, the two areas do interact. The author, therefore, does not hesitate to use methods drawn from continuous mathematics, and in fact shows readers the relevance of abstract, pure mathematics to real-world problems. The author has structured his chapters around concrete problems, and as he illustrates the solutions, the underlying theory emerges. His focus is on counting problems, beginning with the very straightforward and ending with the complicated problem of counting the number of different graphs with a given number of vertices.Its clear, accessible style and detailed solutions to many of the exercises, from routine to challenging, provided at the end of the book make Introduction to Combinatorics ideal for self-study as well as for structured coursework. ... Read more

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mathematical gem—freshly cleaned and polished
This book is intended to be used as the text for a first course in combinatorics. the text has been shaped by two goals, namely, to make complex mathematics accessible to students with a wide range of abilities, interests, and motivations; and to create a pedagogical tool, useful to the broad spectrum of instructors who bring a variety of perspectives and expectations to such a course.

Features retained from the first edition:

• Lively and engaging writing style
• Timely and appropriate examples
• Numerous well-chosen exercises
• Flexible modular format
• Optional sections and appendices

Customer Reviews (3)

The best combinatorics text I have seen so far
There is no question that combinatorics is becoming more important in the practice of computer science. While some of the most important techniques are covered in discrete mathematics courses, there is not enough breadth or depth in the coverage. As a consequence, one of my goals this upcoming year is to convince my colleagues at Mount Mercy to add a course in combinatorics to the curriculum. As part of the proposal, I need to create a list of resources and a sample schedule of topics to be covered. To begin this process, I studied several combinatorics texts and decided that this one was the best.
There are six chapters, and the titles are:

 Chapter 1 The mathematics of choice
 Chapter 2 Thecombinatorics of finite functions
 Chapter 3 Polya's theory of enumeration
 Chapter 4 Generating functions
 Chapter 5 Enumeration in graphs
 Chapter 6 Codes and designs

The coverage is thorough and the sequence has been structured to make the last four chapters independent. This necessitated the duplication of some definitions and theorems, but it is a sensible strategy. There is more than enough material for a one-semester course, so this increases the options available to an instructor. I often skip chapters in a textbook in order to cover a topic I consider critical and find it very helpful when the author repeats key definitions and theorems.
The style is mathematically rigorous, the approach is that of a mathematics textbook with the sequence being: theorem, proof, example(s). A large number of exercises are given at the end of each section and solutions/hints to the odd numbered ones are included. It is a sound combinatorics text and the one that I would most likely use if I ever teach such a course.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

Author Responds
It is unfortunate that Amazon.com has attached to the second edition of this book a review of the first edition.

Who is the audience?
I used this book as a text for a junior-level course.The first two chapters are well-written, with useful exercises, and appropriate for the audience; later chapters are far more difficult, with uneven coverage, and the exercises are far less useful (I had to use other books for exercises, hand out extensive notes, etc.)These later chapters might be good for professional review, but not for students.
This is not just my perception; several students commented that the early part of the book was much better than the later part. ... Read more

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This book is based on two series of lectures given at a summer school on algebraic combinatorics at the Sophus Lie Centre in Nordfjordeid, Norway, in June 2003, one by Peter Orlik on hyperplane arrangements, and the other one by Volkmar Welker on free resolutions. Both topics are essential parts of current research in a variety of mathematical fields, and the present book makes these sophisticated tools available for graduate students. ... Read more

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One of the important areas of contemporary combinatorics is Ramsey theory. Ramsey theory is basically the study of structure preserved under partitions. The general philosophy is reflected by its interdisciplinary character. The ideas of Ramsey theory are shared by logicians, set theorists and combinatorists, and have been successfully applied in other branches of mathematics. The whole subject is quickly developing and has some new and unexpected applications in areas as remote as functional analysis and theoretical computer science. This book is a homogeneous collection of research and survey articles by leading specialists. It surveys recent activity in this diverse subject and brings the reader up to the boundary of present knowledge. It covers virtually all main approaches to the subject and suggests various problems for individual research. ... Read more

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A matroid is an abstract mathematical structure that captures combinatorial properties of matrices. This book offers a unique introduction to matroid theory, emphasizing motivations from matrix theory and applications to systems analysis.
This book serves also as a comprehensive presentation of the theory and application of mixed matrices, developed primarily by the present author in the last decade. A mixed matrix is a convenient mathematical tool for systems analysis, compatible with the physical observation that "fixed constants" and "system parameters" are to be distinguished in the description of engineering systems.
This book will be extremely useful to graduate students and researchers in engineering, mathematics and computer science.

From the reviews:

"…The book has been prepared very carefully, contains a lot of interesting results and is highly recommended for graduate and postgraduate students."

András Recski, Mathematical Reviews Clippings 2000m:93006

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By the time students have done some programming in one or two languages and have learnt the common ways of representing information in a computer, they will want to embark upon further study of theoretical or applied topics in computer science. Most will encounter problems that require for their solution one or more of the techniques described in this book: for example problems depending upon the formation and solution of different equations; the task of making lists of possible alternatives and of answering questions about them; or the search for discrete optima. Written by the same authors as the highly successful Information Representation and Manipulation in a Computer, this book describes algorithms of mathematical methods and illustrates their application with examples. The mathematical background needed is elementary algebra and calculus. Numerous exercises are provided, with hints to their solutions. ... Read more

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Three hundred and sixty-nine problems with fully worked solutions for courses in computer science, combinatorics, and graph theory, designed to provide graded practice to students with as little as a high school algebra background. Originally used to prepare Rumanian candidates for participation in the International Mathematical Olympiads, this book includes both simple problems and complex ones, arranged according to subject. It provides various levels of problems, some of which had been previously available only in research journals. All details of the proofs are given in the solutions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Problem Set
This book is a nice collection of many classic and nonclassic
problems in combinatorics and graph theory. You should have a basic knowledge of combinatorics and you'll like the book very much. ... Read more

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This is an impressive collection of original research papers in discrete and computational geometry, contributed by many leading researchers in these fields, as a tribute to Jacob E. Goodman and Richard Pollack, two of the `founding fathers' of the area, on the occasion of their 2/3 x 100 birthdays. The topics covered by the 38 papers provide professionals and graduate students with a comprehensive presentation of the state of the art in most aspects of discrete and computational geometry, including geometric algorithms, study of arrangements, geometric graph theory, quantitative and algorithmic real algebraic geometry, with important connections to algebraic geometry, convexity, polyhedral combinatorics, the theory of packing, covering, and tiling. The book will serve as an invaluable source of reference in this discipline, and an indispensible component of the library of anyone working in the above areas. ... Read more