This book uses new mathematical tools to examine broad computability and complexity questions in enumerative combinatorics, with applications to other areas of mathematics, theoretical computer science, and physics. A focus on effective algorithms leads to the development of computer algebra software of use to researchers in these domains. After a survey of current results and open problems on decidability in enumerative combinatorics, the text shows how the cutting edge of this research is the new domain of Analytic Combinatorics in Several Variables (ACSV). The remaining chapters of the text alternate between a pedagogical development of the theory, applications (including the resolution by this author of conjectures in lattice path enumeration which resisted several other approaches), and the development of algorithms. The final chapters in the text show, through examples and general theory, how results from stratified Morse theory can help refine some of these computability questions. Complementing the written presentation are over 50 worksheets for the SageMath and Maple computer algebra systems working through examples in the text.

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.

Aimed at graduate students and researchers in enumerative combinatorics, this book is the first to treat the analytic aspects of combinatorial enumeration from a multivariate perspective.

​The book shows that the analytic combinatorics (AC) method encodes the combinatorial problems of multiple object tracking—without information loss—into the derivatives of a generating function (GF). The book lays out an easy-to-follow path from theory to practice and includes salient AC application examples. Since GFs are not widely utilized amongst the tracking community, the book takes the reader from the basics of the subject to applications of theory starting from the simplest problem of single object tracking, and advancing chapter by chapter to more challenging multi-object tracking problems. Many established tracking filters (e.g., Bayes-Markov, PDA, JPDA, IPDA, JIPDA, CPHD, PHD, multi-Bernoulli, MBM, LMBM, and MHT) are derived in this manner with simplicity, economy, and considerable clarity. The AC method gives significant and fresh insights into the modeling assumptions of these filters and, thereby, also shows the potential utility of various approximation methods that are well established techniques in applied mathematics and physics, but are new to tracking. These unexplored possibilities are reviewed in the final chapter of the book.

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.

This undergraduate textbook promotes an active transition to higher mathematics. Problem solving is the heart and soul of this book: each problem is carefully chosen to demonstrate, elucidate, or extend a concept. More than 300 exercises engage the reader in extensive arguments and creative approaches, while exploring connections between fundamental mathematical topics. Divided into four parts, this book begins with a playful exploration of the building blocks of mathematics, such as definitions, axioms, and proofs. A study of the fundamental concepts of logic, sets, and functions follows, before focus turns to methods of proof. Having covered the core of a transition course, the author goes on to present a selection of advanced topics that offer opportunities for extension or further study. Throughout, appendices touch on historical perspectives, current trends, and open questions, showing mathematics as a vibrant and dynamic human enterprise. This second edition has been reorganized to better reflect the layout and curriculum of standard transition courses. It also features recent developments and improved appendices. An Invitation to Abstract Mathematics is ideal for those seeking a challenging and engaging transition to advanced mathematics, and will appeal to both undergraduates majoring in mathematics, as well as non-math majors interested in exploring higher-level concepts. From reviews of the first edition: Bajnok’s new book truly invites students to enjoy the beauty, power, and challenge of abstract mathematics. ... The book can be used as a text for traditional transition or structure courses ... but since Bajnok invites all students, not just mathematics majors, to enjoy the subject, he assumes very little background knowledge. Jill Dietz, MAA Reviews The style of writing is careful, but joyously enthusiastic.... The author’s clear attitude is that mathematics consists of problem solving, and that writing a proof falls into this category. Students of mathematics are, therefore, engaged in problem solving, and should be given problems to solve, rather than problems to imitate. The author attributes this approach to his Hungarian background ... and encourages students to embrace the challenge in the same way an athlete engages in vigorous practice. John Perry, zbMATH

This volume presents some of the research topics discussed at the 2014-2015 Annual Thematic Program Discrete Structures: Analysis and Applications at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications during Fall 2014, when combinatorics was the focus. Leading experts have written surveys of research problems, making state of the art results more conveniently and widely available. The three-part structure of the volume reflects the three workshops held during Fall 2014. In the first part, topics on extremal and probabilistic combinatorics are presented; part two focuses on additive and analytic combinatorics; and part three presents topics in geometric and enumerative combinatorics. This book will be of use to those who research combinatorics directly or apply combinatorial methods to other fields.

Discrete structures model a vast array of objects ranging from DNA sequences to internet networks. The theory of generating functions provides an algebraic framework for discrete structures to be enumerated using mathematical tools. This book is the result of 25 years of work developing analytic machinery to recover asymptotics of multivariate sequences from their generating functions, using multivariate methods that rely on a combination of analytic, algebraic, and topological tools. The resulting theory of analytic combinatorics in several variables is put to use in diverse applications from mathematics, combinatorics, computer science, and the natural sciences. This new edition is even more accessible to graduate students, with many more exercises, computational examples with Sage worksheets to illustrate the main results, updated background material, additional illustrations, and a new chapter providing a conceptual overview.

Graphs are usually represented as geometric objects drawn in the plane, consisting of nodes and curves connecting them. The main message of this book is that such a representation is not merely a way to visualize the graph, but an important mathematical tool. It is obvious that this geometry is crucial in engineering, for example, if you want to understand rigidity of frameworks and mobility of mechanisms. But even if there is no geometry directly connected to the graph-theoretic problem, a well-chosen geometric embedding has mathematical meaning and applications in proofs and algorithms. This book surveys a number of such connections between graph theory and geometry: among others, rubber band representations, coin representations, orthogonal representations, and discrete analytic functions. Applications are given in information theory, statistical physics, graph algorithms and quantum physics. The book is based on courses and lectures that the author has given over the last few decades and offers readers with some knowledge of graph theory, linear algebra, and probability a thorough introduction to this exciting new area with a large collection of illuminating examples and exercises.

In a manner accessible to beginning undergraduates, An Invitation to Modern Number Theory introduces many of the central problems, conjectures, results, and techniques of the field, such as the Riemann Hypothesis, Roth's Theorem, the Circle Method, and Random Matrix Theory. Showing how experiments are used to test conjectures and prove theorems, the book allows students to do original work on such problems, often using little more than calculus (though there are numerous remarks for those with deeper backgrounds). It shows students what number theory theorems are used for and what led to them and suggests problems for further research. Steven Miller and Ramin Takloo-Bighash introduce the problems and the computational skills required to numerically investigate them, providing background material (from probability to statistics to Fourier analysis) whenever necessary. They guide students through a variety of problems, ranging from basic number theory, cryptography, and Goldbach's Problem, to the algebraic structures of numbers and continued fractions, showing connections between these subjects and encouraging students to study them further. In addition, this is the first undergraduate book to explore Random Matrix Theory, which has recently become a powerful tool for predicting answers in number theory. Providing exercises, references to the background literature, and Web links to previous student research projects, An Invitation to Modern Number Theory can be used to teach a research seminar or a lecture class.