Polynomial Methods In Combinatorics

This book explains some recent applications of the theory of polynomials and algebraic geometry to combinatorics and other areas of mathematics. One of the first results in this story is a short elegant solution of the Kakeya problem for finite fields, which was considered a deep and difficult problem in combinatorial geometry. The author also discusses in detail various problems in incidence geometry associated to Paul Erdős's famous distinct distances problem in the plane from the 1940s. The proof techniques are also connected to error-correcting codes, Fourier analysis, number theory, and differential geometry. Although the mathematics discussed in the book is deep and far-reaching, it should be accessible to first- and second-year graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The book contains approximately 100 exercises that further the reader's understanding of the main themes of the book.

A thorough yet accessible introduction to the mathematical breakthroughs achieved by using new polynomial methods in the past decade.

Polynomial Identities and Combinatorial Methods presents a wide range of perspectives on topics ranging from ring theory and combinatorics to invariant theory and associative algebras. It covers recent breakthroughs and strategies impacting research on polynomial identities and identifies new concepts in algebraic combinatorics, invariant and representation theory, and Lie algebras and superalgebras for novel studies in the field. It presents intensive discussions on various methods and techniques relating the theory of polynomial identities to other branches of algebraic study and includes discussions on Hopf algebras and quantum polynomials, free algebras and Scheier varieties.

The main purpose of this book is to show how ideas from combinatorial group theory have spread to two other areas of mathematics: the theory of Lie algebras and affine algebraic geometry. Some of these ideas, in turn, came to combinatorial group theory from low-dimensional topology in the beginning of the 20th Century.

The theory of symmetric functions is an old topic in mathematics which is used as an algebraic tool in many classical fields. With $\lambda$-rings, one can regard symmetric functions as operators on polynomials and reduce the theory to just a handful of fundamental formulas. One of the main goals of the book is to describe the technique of $\lambda$-rings. The main applications of this technique to the theory of symmetric functions are related to the Euclid algorithm and itsoccurrence in division, continued fractions, Pade approximants, and orthogonal polynomials. Putting the emphasis on the symmetric group instead of symmetric functions, one can extend the theory to non-symmetric polynomials, with Schur functions being replaced by Schubert polynomials. In two independentchapters, the author describes the main properties of these polynomials, following either the approach of Newton and interpolation methods or the method of Cauchy. The last chapter sketches a non-commutative version of symmetric functions, using Young tableaux and the plactic monoid. The book contains numerous exercises clarifying and extending many points of the main text. It will make an excellent supplementary text for a graduate course in combinatorics.

This graduate level text is distinguished both by the range of topics and the novelty of the material it treats--more than half of the material in it has previously only appeared in research papers. The first half of this book introduces the characteristic and matchings polynomials of a graph. It is instructive to consider these polynomials together because they have a number of properties in common. The matchings polynomial has links with a number of problems in combinatorial enumeration, particularly some of the current work on the combinatorics of orthogonal polynomials. This connection is discussed at some length, and is also in part the stimulus for the inclusion of chapters on orthogonal polynomials and formal power series. Many of the properties of orthogonal polynomials are derived from properties of characteristic polynomials. The second half of the book introduces the theory of polynomial spaces, which provide easy access to a number of important results in design theory, coding theory and the theory of association schemes. This book should be of interest to second year graduate text/reference in mathematics.

Introduction to Combinatorics focuses on the applications, processes, methodologies, and approaches involved in combinatorics or discrete mathematics. The book first offers information on introductory examples, permutations and combinations, and the inclusion-exclusion principle. Discussions focus on some applications of the inclusion-exclusion principle, derangements, calculus of sets, permutations, combinations, Stirling's formula, binomial theorem, regions of a plane, chromatic polynomials, and a random walk. The text then examines linear equations with unit coefficients, recurrence relations, and generating functions. Topics include derivatives and differential equations, solution of difference equations by means of generating functions, recurrence relations, summation method, difference methods, combinations with repetitions, solutions bounded below, and solutions bounded above and below. The publication takes a look at generating functions and difference equations, ramifications of the binomial theorem, finite structures, coloring problems, maps on a sphere, and geometry of the plane. The manuscript is a valuable reference for researchers interested in combinatorics.

This is a concise, up-to-date introduction to extremal combinatorics for non-specialists. Strong emphasis is made on theorems with particularly elegant and informative proofs which may be called the gems of the theory. A wide spectrum of the most powerful combinatorial tools is presented, including methods of extremal set theory, the linear algebra method, the probabilistic method and fragments of Ramsey theory. A thorough discussion of recent applications to computer science illustrates the inherent usefulness of these methods.

In this thesis, we apply modern probabilistic and algebraic techniques to different problems in extremal combinatorics. One of the most recent algebraic techniques is the new polynomial method which Croot, Lev and Pach introduced in 2016. This method has lead to the spectacular breakthrough of Ellenberg and Gijswijt on the cap-set problem, and has had many more applications in additive number theory and extremal combinatorics. In Chapter 2, we use various tools that resulted from the Croot-Lev-Pach polynomial method, combined with probabilistic and combinatorial arguments, to prove new upper bounds on the Erdos-Ginzburg-Ziv constant of F_p^n for a fixed prime p \geq 5 and large n. Chapter 3 also relies on developments arising from the Croot-Lev-Pach polynomial method as well as new combinatorial ideas. We prove a polynomial bound relating the parameters in Green's arithmetic k-cycle removal lemma in F_p^n for all k \geq 3. The special case of k = 3 was previously proved by Fox and Lovasz and is used as the base case of an induction on k in our proof for all k \geq 3. In Chapter 4, we use methods from algebraic geometry (and basic differential topology) to prove an asymptotically tight lower bound for the number of graphs of a certain form where the edges are defined algebraically by the signs of a finite list of polynomials. We present many applications of this result, in particular to counting intersection graphs and containment orders for various families of geometric objects (e.g. segments of disks in the plane). Using probabilistic methods, we prove the so-called Edge-statistics conjecture of Alon, Hefetz, Krivelevich and Tyomkyn in Chapter 5. In a certain range of the parameters, this conjecture already follows from a result of Kwan, Sudakov and Tran. We solve the other cases, and thereby establish the full conjecture. Finally, in Chapter 6 we prove a conjecture of Erdos, Faudree, Rousseau and Schelp from 1990 concerning subgraphs of minimum degree k.

Analytic combinatorics aims to enable precise quantitative predictions of the properties of large combinatorial structures. The theory has emerged over recent decades as essential both for the analysis of algorithms and for the study of scientific models in many disciplines, including probability theory, statistical physics, computational biology, and information theory. With a careful combination of symbolic enumeration methods and complex analysis, drawing heavily on generating functions, results of sweeping generality emerge that can be applied in particular to fundamental structures such as permutations, sequences, strings, walks, paths, trees, graphs and maps. This account is the definitive treatment of the topic. The authors give full coverage of the underlying mathematics and a thorough treatment of both classical and modern applications of the theory. The text is complemented with exercises, examples, appendices and notes to aid understanding. The book can be used for an advanced undergraduate or a graduate course, or for self-study.