Proceedings of a high-level conference on discrete mathematics, focusing on group actions in the areas of pure mathematics, applied mathematics, computer science, physics, and chemistry. A useful tool for researchers and graduate students in discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science.

This series is devoted to the publication of high-level monographs which cover the whole spectrum of current discrete mathematics and its applications in various fields. One of its main objectives is to make available to the professional community expositions of results and foundations of methods that play an important role in both the theory and applications of discrete mathematics. Contributions which are on the borderline of discrete mathematics and related fields and which stimulate further research at the crossroads of these areas are particularly welcome.

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.

Combinatorics, Second Edition is a well-rounded, general introduction to the subjects of enumerative, bijective, and algebraic combinatorics. The textbook emphasizes bijective proofs, which provide elegant solutions to counting problems by setting up one-to-one correspondences between two sets of combinatorial objects. The author has written the textbook to be accessible to readers without any prior background in abstract algebra or combinatorics. Part I of the second edition develops an array of mathematical tools to solve counting problems: basic counting rules, recursions, inclusion-exclusion techniques, generating functions, bijective proofs, and linear algebraic methods. These tools are used to analyze combinatorial structures such as words, permutations, subsets, functions, graphs, trees, lattice paths, and much more. Part II cover topics in algebraic combinatorics including group actions, permutation statistics, symmetric functions, and tableau combinatorics. This edition provides greater coverage of the use of ordinary and exponential generating functions as a problem-solving tool. Along with two new chapters, several new sections, and improved exposition throughout, the textbook is brimming with many examples and exercises of various levels of difficulty.

What Is Combinatorics Anyway? Broadly speaking, combinatorics is the branch of mathematics dealing with different ways of selecting objects from a set or arranging objects. It tries to answer two major kinds of questions, namely, counting questions: how many ways can a selection or arrangement be chosen with a particular set of properties; and structural questions: does there exist a selection or arrangement of objects with a particular set of properties? The authors have presented a text for students at all levels of preparation. For some, this will be the first course where the students see several real proofs. Others will have a good background in linear algebra, will have completed the calculus stream, and will have started abstract algebra. The text starts by briefly discussing several examples of typical combinatorial problems to give the reader a better idea of what the subject covers. The next chapters explore enumerative ideas and also probability. It then moves on to enumerative functions and the relations between them, and generating functions and recurrences., Important families of functions, or numbers and then theorems are presented. Brief introductions to computer algebra and group theory come next. Structures of particular interest in combinatorics: posets, graphs, codes, Latin squares, and experimental designs follow. The authors conclude with further discussion of the interaction between linear algebra and combinatorics. Features Two new chapters on probability and posets. Numerous new illustrations, exercises, and problems. More examples on current technology use A thorough focus on accuracy Three appendices: sets, induction and proof techniques, vectors and matrices, and biographies with historical notes, Flexible use of MapleTM and MathematicaTM

This combinatorics text provides in-depth coverage of recurrences, generating functions, partitions, and permutations, along with some of the most interesting graph and network topics, design constructions, and finite geometries. It presents the computer and software algorithms in pseudo-code and incorporates definitions, theorems, proofs, examples, and nearly 300 illustrations as pedagogical elements of the exposition. Numerous problems, solutions, and hints reinforce basic skills and assist with creative problem solving. The author also offers a website with extensive graph theory informational resources as well as a computational engine to help with calculations for some of the exercises.

This volume is the first comprehensive treatment of combinatorial algebraic topology in book form. The first part of the book constitutes a swift walk through the main tools of algebraic topology. Readers - graduate students and working mathematicians alike - will probably find particularly useful the second part, which contains an in-depth discussion of the major research techniques of combinatorial algebraic topology. Although applications are sprinkled throughout the second part, they are principal focus of the third part, which is entirely devoted to developing the topological structure theory for graph homomorphisms.

This volume contains the proceedings of the AMS Special Session on Discrete Geometry and Algebraic Combinatorics held on January 11, 2013, in San Diego, California. The collection of articles in this volume is devoted to packings of metric spaces and related questions, and contains new results as well as surveys of some areas of discrete geometry. This volume consists of papers on combinatorics of transportation polytopes, including results on the diameter of graphs of such polytopes; the generalized Steiner problem and related topics of the minimal fillings theory; a survey of distance graphs and graphs of diameters, and a group of papers on applications of algebraic combinatorics to packings of metric spaces including sphere packings and topics in coding theory. In particular, this volume presents a new approach to duality in sphere packing based on the Poisson summation formula, applications of semidefinite programming to spherical codes and equiangular lines, new results in list decoding of a family of algebraic codes, and constructions of bent and semi-bent functions.

Publisher Description

Presenting the state of the art, the Handbook of Enumerative Combinatorics brings together the work of today's most prominent researchers. The contributors survey the methods of combinatorial enumeration along with the most frequent applications of these methods.This important new work is edited by Miklos Bona of the University of Florida where he