A mathematical gem–freshly cleaned and polished This book is intended to be used as the text for a first course in combinatorics. the text has been shaped by two goals, namely, to make complex mathematics accessible to students with a wide range of abilities, interests, and motivations; and to create a pedagogical tool, useful to the broad spectrum of instructors who bring a variety of perspectives and expectations to such a course.Features retained from the first edition: Lively and engaging writing styleTimely and appropriate examplesNumerous well-chosen exercisesFlexible modular formatOptional sections and appendicesHighlights of Second Edition enhancements: Smoothed and polished exposition, with a sharpened focus on key ideasExpanded discussion of linear codesNew optional section on algorithmsGreatly expanded hints and answers sectionMany new exercises and examples

A lively invitation to the flavor, elegance, and power of graph theory This mathematically rigorous introduction is tempered and enlivened by numerous illustrations, revealing examples, seductive applications, and historical references. An award-winning teacher, Russ Merris has crafted a book designed to attract and engage through its spirited exposition, a rich assortment of well-chosen exercises, and a selection of topics that emphasizes the kinds of things that can be manipulated, counted, and pictured. Intended neither to be a comprehensive overview nor an encyclopedic reference, this focused treatment goes deeply enough into a sufficiently wide variety of topics to illustrate the flavor, elegance, and power of graph theory. Another unique feature of the book is its user-friendly modular format. Following a basic foundation in Chapters 1-3, the remainder of the book is organized into four strands that can be explored independently of each other. These strands center, respectively, around matching theory; planar graphs and hamiltonian cycles; topics involving chordal graphs and oriented graphs that naturally emerge from recent developments in the theory of graphic sequences; and an edge coloring strand that embraces both Ramsey theory and a self-contained introduction to Pólya's enumeration of nonisomorphic graphs. In the edge coloring strand, the reader is presumed to be familiar with the disjoint cycle factorization of a permutation. Otherwise, all prerequisites for the book can be found in a standard sophomore course in linear algebra. The independence of strands also makes Graph Theory an excellent resource for mathematicians who require access to specific topics without wanting to read an entire book on the subject.

A mathematical gem–freshly cleaned and polished

This book is intended to be used as the text for a first course in combinatorics. the text has been shaped by two goals, namely, to make complex mathematics accessible to students with a wide range of abilities, interests, and motivations; and to create a pedagogical tool, useful to the broad spectrum of instructors who bring a variety of perspectives and expectations to such a course.

Features retained from the first edition:

Lively and engaging writing style Timely and appropriate examples Numerous well-chosen exercises Flexible modular format Optional sections and appendices

Highlights of Second Edition enhancements:

Smoothed and polished exposition, with a sharpened focus on key ideas Expanded discussion of linear codes New optional section on algorithms Greatly expanded hints and answers section Many new exercises and examples

The prototypical multilinear operation is multiplication. Indeed, every multilinear mapping can be factored through a tensor product. Apart from its intrinsic interest, the tensor product is of fundamental importance in a variety of disciplines, ranging from matrix inequalities and group representation theory, to the combinatorics of symmetric func

A lively invitation to the flavor, elegance, and power of graph theory This mathematically rigorous introduction is tempered and enlivened by numerous illustrations, revealing examples, seductive applications, and historical references. An award-winning teacher, Russ Merris has crafted a book designed to attract and engage through its spirited exposition, a rich assortment of well-chosen exercises, and a selection of topics that emphasizes the kinds of things that can be manipulated, counted, and pictured. Intended neither to be a comprehensive overview nor an encyclopedic reference, this focused treatment goes deeply enough into a sufficiently wide variety of topics to illustrate the flavor, elegance, and power of graph theory. Another unique feature of the book is its user-friendly modular format. Following a basic foundation in Chapters 1-3, the remainder of the book is organized into four strands that can be explored independently of each other. These strands center, respectively, around matching theory; planar graphs and hamiltonian cycles; topics involving chordal graphs and oriented graphs that naturally emerge from recent developments in the theory of graphic sequences; and an edge coloring strand that embraces both Ramsey theory and a self-contained introduction to Pólya''s enumeration of nonisomorphic graphs. In the edge coloring strand, the reader is presumed to be familiar with the disjoint cycle factorization of a permutation. Otherwise, all prerequisites for the book can be found in a standard sophomore course in linear algebra. The independence of strands also makes Graph Theory an excellent resource for mathematicians who require access to specific topics without wanting to read an entire book on the subject.

The prototypical multilinear operation is multiplication. Indeed, every multilinear mapping can be factored through a tensor product. Apart from its intrinsic interest, the tensor product is of fundamental importance in a variety of disciplines, ranging from matrix inequalities and group representation theory, to the combinatorics of symmetric func

A mathematical gem–freshly cleaned and polished This book is intended to be used as the text for a first course in combinatorics. the text has been shaped by two goals, namely, to make complex mathematics accessible to students with a wide range of abilities, interests, and motivations; and to create a pedagogical tool, useful to the broad spectrum of instructors who bring a variety of perspectives and expectations to such a course.Features retained from the first edition: Lively and engaging writing styleTimely and appropriate examplesNumerous well-chosen exercisesFlexible modular formatOptional sections and appendicesHighlights of Second Edition enhancements: Smoothed and polished exposition, with a sharpened focus on key ideasExpanded discussion of linear codesNew optional section on algorithmsGreatly expanded hints and answers sectionMany new exercises and examples

A lively invitation to the flavor, elegance, and power of graph theory This mathematically rigorous introduction is tempered and enlivened by numerous illustrations, revealing examples, seductive applications, and historical references. An award-winning teacher, Russ Merris has crafted a book designed to attract and engage through its spirited exposition, a rich assortment of well-chosen exercises, and a selection of topics that emphasizes the kinds of things that can be manipulated, counted, and pictured. Intended neither to be a comprehensive overview nor an encyclopedic reference, this focused treatment goes deeply enough into a sufficiently wide variety of topics to illustrate the flavor, elegance, and power of graph theory. Another unique feature of the book is its user-friendly modular format. Following a basic foundation in Chapters 1-3, the remainder of the book is organized into four strands that can be explored independently of each other. These strands center, respectively, around matching theory; planar graphs and hamiltonian cycles; topics involving chordal graphs and oriented graphs that naturally emerge from recent developments in the theory of graphic sequences; and an edge coloring strand that embraces both Ramsey theory and a self-contained introduction to Pólya's enumeration of nonisomorphic graphs. In the edge coloring strand, the reader is presumed to be familiar with the disjoint cycle factorization of a permutation. Otherwise, all prerequisites for the book can be found in a standard sophomore course in linear algebra. The independence of strands also makes Graph Theory an excellent resource for mathematicians who require access to specific topics without wanting to read an entire book on the subject.

A mathematical gem–freshly cleaned and polished

This book is intended to be used as the text for a first course in combinatorics. the text has been shaped by two goals, namely, to make complex mathematics accessible to students with a wide range of abilities, interests, and motivations; and to create a pedagogical tool, useful to the broad spectrum of instructors who bring a variety of perspectives and expectations to such a course.

Features retained from the first edition:

Lively and engaging writing style Timely and appropriate examples Numerous well-chosen exercises Flexible modular format Optional sections and appendices

Highlights of Second Edition enhancements:

Smoothed and polished exposition, with a sharpened focus on key ideas Expanded discussion of linear codes New optional section on algorithms Greatly expanded hints and answers section Many new exercises and examples

The prototypical multilinear operation is multiplication. Indeed, every multilinear mapping can be factored through a tensor product. Apart from its intrinsic interest, the tensor product is of fundamental importance in a variety of disciplines, ranging from matrix inequalities and group representation theory, to the combinatorics of symmetric func

A lively invitation to the flavor, elegance, and power of graph theory This mathematically rigorous introduction is tempered and enlivened by numerous illustrations, revealing examples, seductive applications, and historical references. An award-winning teacher, Russ Merris has crafted a book designed to attract and engage through its spirited exposition, a rich assortment of well-chosen exercises, and a selection of topics that emphasizes the kinds of things that can be manipulated, counted, and pictured. Intended neither to be a comprehensive overview nor an encyclopedic reference, this focused treatment goes deeply enough into a sufficiently wide variety of topics to illustrate the flavor, elegance, and power of graph theory. Another unique feature of the book is its user-friendly modular format. Following a basic foundation in Chapters 1-3, the remainder of the book is organized into four strands that can be explored independently of each other. These strands center, respectively, around matching theory; planar graphs and hamiltonian cycles; topics involving chordal graphs and oriented graphs that naturally emerge from recent developments in the theory of graphic sequences; and an edge coloring strand that embraces both Ramsey theory and a self-contained introduction to Pólya''s enumeration of nonisomorphic graphs. In the edge coloring strand, the reader is presumed to be familiar with the disjoint cycle factorization of a permutation. Otherwise, all prerequisites for the book can be found in a standard sophomore course in linear algebra. The independence of strands also makes Graph Theory an excellent resource for mathematicians who require access to specific topics without wanting to read an entire book on the subject.

The prototypical multilinear operation is multiplication. Indeed, every multilinear mapping can be factored through a tensor product. Apart from its intrinsic interest, the tensor product is of fundamental importance in a variety of disciplines, ranging from matrix inequalities and group representation theory, to the combinatorics of symmetric func