Combinatorics: A Very Short Introduction

Description

Combinatorics is a large branch of mathematics involving the counting, selecting, and arranging of objects. Robin Wilson explores the field, looking at problems such as the shortest routes from A to B, to the number of Sudoku puzzles possible.

• Introduces Combinatorics through a problem-solving approach
• Covers the core aspects of the subject such as permutations, combinations, and latin squares
• Explores a variety of classic and modern problems, from the Könisberg bridges to Sudoku puzzles
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over seven million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Robin Wilson, Emeritus professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Open University

Robin Wilson is an Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, Emeritus Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, and a former fellow of Keble College, Oxford University. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. A former President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, he has written and edited many books on the history of mathematics, including Lewis Carroll in Numberland, and also on graph theory, including Introduction to Graph Theory and Four Colours Suffice. Involved with the popularization of mathematics and its history, he has been awarded the Mathematical Association of America's Lester Ford award and Pólya prize for his 'outstanding expository writing', and the Ralph Stanton Award for outreach activities in combinatorics. He has Erdõs Number 1.

Table of Contents

1:What is combinatorics?
2:Four types of problem
3:Permutations and combinations
4:A combinatorial zoo
5:Tilings and polyhedra
6:Graphs
7:Square arrays
8:Designs and geometry
9:Partitions
Further Reading
Index

Reviews

"Clear and beautifully written ... this book is much more than a simple introduction ... [Its] great strength is that while examining a number of important concepts in detail, the author does so ... without using complicated abstract formulae." - Mathematics Today