Combinatorics: Topics, Techniques, Algorithms
Cambridge University Press, 10/6/1994
EAN 9780521457613, ISBN10: 0521457610
Paperback, 368 pages, 23.5 x 19 x 2.1 cm
Language: English
Combinatorics is a subject of increasing importance, owing to its links with computer science, statistics and algebra. This is a textbook aimed at second-year undergraduates to beginning graduates. It stresses common techniques (such as generating functions and recursive construction) which underlie the great variety of subject matter and also stresses the fact that a constructive or algorithmic proof is more valuable than an existence proof. The book is divided into two parts, the second at a higher level and with a wider range than the first. Historical notes are included which give a wider perspective on the subject. More advanced topics are given as projects and there are a number of exercises, some with solutions given.
Preface
1. What is combinatorics?
2. On numbers and counting
3. Subsets, partitions, permutations
4. Recurrence relations and generating functions
5. The principle of inclusion and exclusion
6. Latin squares and SDRs
7. Extremal set theory
8. Steiner triple theory
9. Finite geometry
10. Ramsey's theorem
11. Graphs
12. Posets, lattices and matroids
13. More on partitions and permutations
14. Automorphism groups and permutation groups
15. Enumeration under group action
16. Designs
17. Error-correcting codes
18. Graph colourings
19. The infinite
20. Where to from here?
Answers to selected exercises
Bibliography
Index.