This undergraduate textbook in topological combinatorics covers such topics as fair division, graph coloring problems, evasiveness of graph properties, and embedding problems from discrete geometry. Includes many figures and 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.

To the uninitiated, algebraic topology might seem fiendishly complex, but its utility is beyond doubt. This brilliant exposition goes back to basics to explain how the subject has been used to further our understanding in some key areas. A number of important results in combinatorics, discrete geometry, and theoretical computer science have been proved using algebraic topology. While the results are quite famous, their proofs are not so widely understood. This book is the first textbook treatment of a significant part of these results. It focuses on so-called equivariant methods, based on the Borsuk-Ulam theorem and its generalizations. The topological tools are intentionally kept on a very elementary level. No prior knowledge of algebraic topology is assumed, only a background in undergraduate mathematics, and the required topological notions and results are gradually explained.

Topology is a relatively young and very important branch of mathematics, which studies the properties of objects that are preserved through deformations, twistings, and stretchings. This book deals with the topology of curves and surfaces as well as with the fundamental concepts of homotopy and homology, and does this in a lively and well-motivated way. This book is well suited for readers who are interested in finding out what topology is all about.

Distributed Computing Through Combinatorial Topology describes techniques for analyzing distributed algorithms based on award winning combinatorial topology research. The authors present a solid theoretical foundation relevant to many real systems reliant on parallelism with unpredictable delays, such as multicore microprocessors, wireless networks, distributed systems, and Internet protocols. Today, a new student or researcher must assemble a collection of scattered conference publications, which are typically terse and commonly use different notations and terminologies. This book provides a self-contained explanation of the mathematics to readers with computer science backgrounds, as well as explaining computer science concepts to readers with backgrounds in applied mathematics. The first section presents mathematical notions and models, including message passing and shared-memory systems, failures, and timing models. The next section presents core concepts in two chapters each: first, proving a simple result that lends itself to examples and pictures that will build up readers' intuition; then generalizing the concept to prove a more sophisticated result. The overall result weaves together and develops the basic concepts of the field, presenting them in a gradual and intuitively appealing way. The book's final section discusses advanced topics typically found in a graduate-level course for those who wish to explore further. - Named a 2013 Notable Computer Book for Computing Methodologies by Computing Reviews - Gathers knowledge otherwise spread across research and conference papers using consistent notations and a standard approach to facilitate understanding - Presents unique insights applicable to multiple computing fields, including multicore microprocessors, wireless networks, distributed systems, and Internet protocols - Synthesizes and distills material into a simple, unified presentation with examples, illustrations, and exercises

Algebraic topology is a basic part of modern mathematics, and some knowledge of this area is indispensable for any advanced work relating to geometry, including topology itself, differential geometry, algebraic geometry, and Lie groups. This book provides a detailed treatment of algebraic topology both for teachers of the subject and for advanced graduate students in mathematics either specializing in this area or continuing on to other fields. J. Peter May's approach reflects the enormous internal developments within algebraic topology over the past several decades, most of which are largely unknown to mathematicians in other fields. But he also retains the classical presentations of various topics where appropriate. Most chapters end with problems that further explore and refine the concepts presented. The final four chapters provide sketches of substantial areas of algebraic topology that are normally omitted from introductory texts, and the book concludes with a list of suggested readings for those interested in delving further into the field.

A First Course in Enumerative Combinatorics provides an introduction to the fundamentals of enumeration for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in the mathematical sciences. The book offers a careful and comprehensive account of the standard tools of enumeration—recursion, generating functions, sieve and inversion formulas, enumeration under group actions—and their application to counting problems for the fundamental structures of discrete mathematics, including sets and multisets, words and permutations, partitions of sets and integers, and graphs and trees. The author's exposition has been strongly influenced by the work of Rota and Stanley, highlighting bijective proofs, partially ordered sets, and an emphasis on organizing the subject under various unifying themes, including the theory of incidence algebras. In addition, there are distinctive chapters on the combinatorics of finite vector spaces, a detailed account of formal power series, and combinatorial number theory. The reader is assumed to have a knowledge of basic linear algebra and some familiarity with power series. There are over 200 well-designed exercises ranging in difficulty from straightforward to challenging. There are also sixteen large-scale honors projects on special topics appearing throughout the text. The author is a distinguished combinatorialist and award-winning teacher, and he is currently Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee. He has published widely in number theory, combinatorics, probability, decision theory, and formal epistemology. His Erdős number is 2.

Discrete Morse theory is a powerful tool combining ideas in both topology and combinatorics. Invented by Robin Forman in the mid 1990s, discrete Morse theory is a combinatorial analogue of Marston Morse's classical Morse theory. Its applications are vast, including applications to topological data analysis, combinatorics, and computer science. This book, the first one devoted solely to discrete Morse theory, serves as an introduction to the subject. Since the book restricts the study of discrete Morse theory to abstract simplicial complexes, a course in mathematical proof writing is the only prerequisite needed. Topics covered include simplicial complexes, simple homotopy, collapsibility, gradient vector fields, Hasse diagrams, simplicial homology, persistent homology, discrete Morse inequalities, the Morse complex, discrete Morse homology, and strong discrete Morse functions. Students of computer science will also find the book beneficial as it includes topics such as Boolean functions, evasiveness, and has a chapter devoted to some computational aspects of discrete Morse theory. The book is appropriate for a course in discrete Morse theory, a supplemental text to a course in algebraic topology or topological combinatorics, or an independent study.

This monograph is based, in part, upon lectures given in the Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Science. It presupposes mainly an elementary knowledge of linear algebra and of topology. In topology the limit is dimension two mainly in the latter chapters and questions of topological invariance are carefully avoided. From the technical viewpoint graphs is our only requirement. However, later, questions notably related to Kuratowski's classical theorem have demanded an easily provided treatment of 2-complexes and surfaces. January 1972 Solomon Lefschetz 4 INTRODUCTION The study of electrical networks rests upon preliminary theory of graphs. In the literature this theory has always been dealt with by special ad hoc methods. My purpose here is to show that actually this theory is nothing else than the first chapter of classical algebraic topology and may be very advantageously treated as such by the well known methods of that science. Part I of this volume covers the following ground: The first two chapters present, mainly in outline, the needed basic elements of linear algebra. In this part duality is dealt with somewhat more extensively. In Chapter III the merest elements of general topology are discussed. Graph theory proper is covered in Chapters IV and v, first structurally and then as algebra. Chapter VI discusses the applications to networks. In Chapters VII and VIII the elements of the theory of 2-dimensional complexes and surfaces are presented.