Applied Combinatorics, Second Edition

The tools of combinatorics are presented from an applied point of view, covering both standard and emerging topics and emphasizing a variety of applications as major topics of their own rather than isolated examples. The text is written for junior and senior undergraduates in courses populated by math and computer science majors, and majors in business, economics, biology, and psychology, and can also be used for a graduate course. After introducing fundamental counting rules and the tools of graph theory and relations, the authors focus on three basic problems of combinatorics: counting, existence, and optimization problems. Problem solving is emphasized, with exercises that test routine ideas, introduce new concepts and applications, and challenge the reader to use the combinatorial techniques developed. This second edition contains solutions to selected problems, and has been substantially rewritten, with 200 pages of new material, to reflect the development of the field over the past 20 years. In particular, many new applications in computer science and biology are described. There is a new chapter on binary relations. Information on the authors is not included. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This book focuses on the applications that motivate the development and use of combinatorics. The application examples covered include defective products, disease screening, genome mapping, satellite communication, web data, search engines, telecommunications traffic, smallpox vaccinations, sound systems, oil drilling, dynamic labor markets, and distributed computing. This edition includes new material on list colorings, the inversion distance between permutations and mutations in evolutionary biology, graph coloring, relations, DNA sequence alignment, cryptography, automorphisms of graphs, orthogonal arrays, secret sharing, the RSA cryptosystem, consensus decoding, and Menger's theorems.

Now with solutions to selected problems, Applied Combinatorics, Second Edition presents the tools of combinatorics from an applied point of view. This bestselling textbook offers numerous references to the literature of combinatorics and its applications that enable readers to delve more deeply into the topics.

After introducing fundamental counting rules and the tools of graph theory and relations, the authors focus on three basic problems of combinatorics: counting, existence, and optimization problems. They discuss advanced tools for dealing with the counting problem, including generating functions, recurrences, inclusion/exclusion, and P lya theory. The text then covers combinatorial design, coding theory, and special problems in graph theory. It also illustrates the basic ideas of combinatorial optimization through a study of graphs and networks.

Now with solutions to selected problems, this bestselling textbook presents the tools of combinatorics from an applied point of view. It focuses on three basic problems of combinatorics: counting, existence, and optimization problems. The text contains many examples from the biological, computer, and social sciences, including disease screening, genome mapping, satellite communication, search engines, telecommunications traffic, web data, sound systems, oil drilling, dynamic labor markets, data mining, and distributed computing. It also offers numerous references to the literature of combinatorics and its applications that enable readers to delve more deeply into the topics.

Now with solutions to selected problems, this new edition presents the tools of combinatorics from an applied point of view. It also illustrates the basic ideas of combinatorial optimization through a study of graphs and networks.