J. H. van Lint - Böcker

This is the second edition of a popular book on combinatorics, a subject dealing with ways of arranging and distributing objects, and which involves ideas from geometry, algebra and analysis. The breadth of the theory is matched by that of its applications, which include topics as diverse as codes, circuit design and algorithm complexity. It has thus become essential for workers in many scientific fields to have some familiarity with the subject. The authors have tried to be as comprehensive as possible, dealing in a unified manner with, for example, graph theory, extremal problems, designs, colorings and codes. The depth and breadth of the coverage make the book a unique guide to the whole of the subject. The book is ideal for courses on combinatorical mathematics at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. Working mathematicians and scientists will also find it a valuable introduction and reference.

These are notes deriving from lecture courses given by the authors in 1973 at Westfield College, London. The lectures described the connection between the theory of t-designs on the one hand, and graph theory on the other. A feature of this book is the discussion of then-recent construction of t-designs from codes. Topics from a wide range of finite combinatorics are covered and the book will interest all scholars of combinatorial theory.

This book is concerned with the relations between graphs, error-correcting codes and designs, in particular how techniques of graph theory and coding theory can give information about designs. A major revision and expansion of a previous volume in this series, this account includes many examples and new results as well as improved treatments of older material. So that non-specialists will find the treatment accessible the authors have included short introductions to the three main topics. This book will be welcomed by graduate students and research mathematicians and be valuable for advanced courses in finite combinatorics.

First published in 1986, the first ICMI study is concerned with the influence of computers and computer science on mathematics and its teaching in the last years of school and at tertiary level. In particular, it explores the way the computer has influenced mathematics itself and the way in which mathematicians work, likely influences on the curriculum of high-school and undergraduate students, and the way in which the computer can be used to improve mathematics teaching and learning. The book comprises a report of the meeting held in Strasbourg in March 1985, plus several papers contributed to that meeting.

Although graph theory, design theory, and coding theory had their origins in various areas of applied mathematics, today they are to be found under the umbrella of discrete mathematics. Here the authors have considerably reworked and expanded their earlier successful books on graphs, codes and designs, into an invaluable textbook. They do not seek to consider each of these three topics individually, but rather to stress the many and varied connections between them. The discrete mathematics needed is developed in the text, making this book accessible to any student with a background of undergraduate algebra. Many exercises and useful hints are included througout, and a large number of references are given.

Although graph theory, design theory, and coding theory had their origins in various areas of applied mathematics, today they are to be found under the umbrella of discrete mathematics. Here the authors have considerably reworked and expanded their earlier successful books on graphs, codes and designs, into an invaluable textbook. They do not seek to consider each of these three topics individually, but rather to stress the many and varied connections between them. The discrete mathematics needed is developed in the text, making this book accessible to any student with a background of undergraduate algebra. Many exercises and useful hints are included througout, and a large number of references are given.

These lecture notes are the contents of a two-term course given by me during the 1970-1971 academic year as Morgan Ward visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology. The students who took the course were mathematics seniors and graduate students. Therefore a thorough knowledge of algebra. (a. o. linear algebra, theory of finite fields, characters of abelian groups) and also probability theory were assumed. After introducing coding theory and linear codes these notes concern topics mostly from algebraic coding theory. The practical side of the subject, e. g. circuitry, is not included. Some topics which one would like to include 1n a course for students of mathematics such as bounds on the information rate of codes and many connections between combinatorial mathematics and coding theory could not be treated due to lack of time. For an extension of the course into a third term these two topics would have been chosen. Although the material for this course came from many sources there are three which contributed heavily and which were used as suggested reading material for the students. These are W. W. Peterson's Error-Correcting Codes «(15]), E. R. Berlekamp's Algebraic Coding Theory «(5]) and several of the AFCRL-reports by E. F. Assmus, H. F. Mattson and R. Turyn ([2], (3), [4] a. o. ). For several fruitful discussions I would like to thank R. J. McEliece.