A Survey of Combinatorial Theory


Book Description

A Survey of Combinatorial Theory covers the papers presented at the International Symposium on Combinatorial Mathematics and its Applications, held at Colorado State University (CSU), Fort Collins, Colorado on September 9-11, 1971. The book focuses on the principles, operations, and approaches involved in combinatorial theory, including the Bose-Nelson sorting problem, Golay code, and Galois geometries. The selection first ponders on classical and modern topics in finite geometrical structures; balanced hypergraphs and applications to graph theory; and strongly regular graph derived from the perfect ternary Golay code. Discussions focus on perfect ternary Golay code, finite projective and affine planes, Galois geometries, and other geometric structures. The book then examines the characterization problems of combinatorial graph theory, line-minimal graphs with cyclic group, circle geometry in higher dimensions, and Cayley diagrams and regular complex polygons. The text discusses combinatorial problems in finite Abelian groups, dissection graphs of planar point sets, combinatorial problems and results in fractional replication, Bose-Nelson sorting problem, and some combinatorial aspects of coding theory. The text also reviews the enumerative theory of planar maps, balanced arrays and orthogonal arrays, existence of resolvable block designs, and combinatorial problems in communication networks. The selection is a valuable source of information for mathematicians and researchers interested in the combinatorial theory.




Combinatorial Group Theory


Book Description

From the reviews: "This book [...] defines the boundaries of the subject now called combinatorial group theory. [...] it is a considerable achievement to have concentrated a survey of the subject into 339 pages. [...] a valuable and welcome addition to the literature, containing many results not previously available in a book. It will undoubtedly become a standard reference." Mathematical Reviews




Analytic Combinatorics


Book Description

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.




50 years of Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing


Book Description

50 Years of Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing advances research in discrete mathematics by providing current research surveys, each written by experts in their subjects. The book also celebrates outstanding mathematics from 50 years at the Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory & Computing (SEICCGTC). The conference is noted for the dissemination and stimulation of research, while fostering collaborations among mathematical scientists at all stages of their careers. The authors of the chapters highlight open questions. The sections of the book include: Combinatorics; Graph Theory; Combinatorial Matrix Theory; Designs, Geometry, Packing and Covering. Readers will discover the breadth and depth of the presentations at the SEICCGTC, as well as current research in combinatorics, graph theory and computer science. Features: Commemorates 50 years of the Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory & Computing with research surveys Surveys highlight open questions to inspire further research Chapters are written by experts in their fields Extensive bibliographies are provided at the end of each chapter




Combinatorics: The Art of Counting


Book Description

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.




Recent Advances in Algorithms and Combinatorics


Book Description

Excellent authors, such as Lovasz, one of the five best combinatorialists in the world; Thematic linking that makes it a coherent collection; Will appeal to a variety of communities, such as mathematics, computer science and operations research




Combinatorics: Ancient & Modern


Book Description

Who first presented Pascal's triangle? (It was not Pascal.) Who first presented Hamiltonian graphs? (It was not Hamilton.) Who first presented Steiner triple systems? (It was not Steiner.) The history of mathematics is a well-studied and vibrant area of research, with books and scholarly articles published on various aspects of the subject. Yet, the history of combinatorics seems to have been largely overlooked. This book goes some way to redress this and serves two main purposes: 1) it constitutes the first book-length survey of the history of combinatorics; and 2) it assembles, for the first time in a single source, researches on the history of combinatorics that would otherwise be inaccessible to the general reader. Individual chapters have been contributed by sixteen experts. The book opens with an introduction by Donald E. Knuth to two thousand years of combinatorics. This is followed by seven chapters on early combinatorics, leading from Indian and Chinese writings on permutations to late-Renaissance publications on the arithmetical triangle. The next seven chapters trace the subsequent story, from Euler's contributions to such wide-ranging topics as partitions, polyhedra, and latin squares to the 20th century advances in combinatorial set theory, enumeration, and graph theory. The book concludes with some combinatorial reflections by the distinguished combinatorialist, Peter J. Cameron. This book is not expected to be read from cover to cover, although it can be. Rather, it aims to serve as a valuable resource to a variety of audiences. Combinatorialists with little or no knowledge about the development of their subject will find the historical treatment stimulating. A historian of mathematics will view its assorted surveys as an encouragement for further research in combinatorics. The more general reader will discover an introduction to a fascinating and too little known subject that continues to stimulate and inspire the work of scholars today.




Combinatorial Methods


Book Description

The main purpose of this book is to show how ideas from combinatorial group theory have spread to two other areas of mathematics: the theory of Lie algebras and affine algebraic geometry. Some of these ideas, in turn, came to combinatorial group theory from low-dimensional topology in the beginning of the 20th Century. This book is divided into three fairly independent parts. Part I provides a brief exposition of several classical techniques in combinatorial group theory, namely, methods of Nielsen, Whitehead, and Tietze. Part II contains the main focus of the book. Here the authors show how the aforementioned techniques of combinatorial group theory found their way into affine algebraic geometry, a fascinating area of mathematics that studies polynomials and polynomial mappings. Part III illustrates how ideas from combinatorial group theory contributed to the theory of free algebras. The focus here is on Schreier varieties of algebras (a variety of algebras is said to be Schreier if any subalgebra of a free algebra of this variety is free in the same variety of algebras).




A First Course in Graph Theory and Combinatorics


Book Description

This book discusses the origin of graph theory from its humble beginnings in recreational mathematics to its modern setting or modeling communication networks, as is evidenced by the World Wide Web graph used by many Internet search engines. The second edition of the book includes recent developments in the theory of signed adjacency matrices involving the proof of sensitivity conjecture and the theory of Ramanujan graphs. In addition, the book discusses topics such as Pick’s theorem on areas of lattice polygons and Graham–Pollak’s work on addressing of graphs. The concept of graph is fundamental in mathematics and engineering, as it conveniently encodes diverse relations and facilitates combinatorial analysis of many theoretical and practical problems. The text is ideal for a one-semester course at the advanced undergraduate level or beginning graduate level.




Graph Theory and Combinatorial Optimization


Book Description

Graph theory is very much tied to the geometric properties of optimization and combinatorial optimization. Moreover, graph theory's geometric properties are at the core of many research interests in operations research and applied mathematics. Its techniques have been used in solving many classical problems including maximum flow problems, independent set problems, and the traveling salesman problem. Graph Theory and Combinatorial Optimization explores the field's classical foundations and its developing theories, ideas and applications to new problems. The book examines the geometric properties of graph theory and its widening uses in combinatorial optimization theory and application. The field's leading researchers have contributed chapters in their areas of expertise.