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This captivating book provides an introduction to fundamental results of discrete mathematics through the work of Paul Erdos, blended with first-hand reminiscences of his work and life. Written for students, it covers topics ranging from Bertrand's postulate to evolution of random graphs and topics not typically covered in introductory courses.
List of contents
Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. A glorious beginning - Bertrand's postulate; 2. Discrete geometry and spinoffs; 3. Ramsey's theorem; 4. Delta-systems; 5. Extremal set theory; 6. Van der Waerden's theorem; 7. Extremal graph theory; 8. The friendship theorem; 9. Chromatic number; 10. Thresholds of graph properties ; 11. Hamilton cycles; Appendix A. A few tricks of the trade; Appendix B. Definitions, terminology, notation; Appendix C. More on Erd¿s; References; Index.
About the author
Vašek Chvátal is Professor Emeritus of Concordia University, where he served as Canada Research Chair in Combinatorial Optimization (2004–2011) and Canada Research Chair in Discrete Mathematics from 2011 to his retirement in 2014. He is the author of Linear Programming (1983) and co-author of The Traveling Salesman Problem: A Computational Study (2007). In the 1970s, he wrote three joint papers with Paul Erdős. He is a recipient of the CSGSS Award for Excellence in Teaching, Rutgers University (1992, 1993, 2001) and co-recipient of the Beale-Orchard-Hays Prize (2000), Frederick W. Lanchester Prize (2007), and John von Neumann Theory Prize (2015).
Summary
This captivating book provides an introduction to fundamental results of discrete mathematics through the work of Paul Erdos, blended with first-hand reminiscences of his work and life. Written for students, it covers topics ranging from Bertrand's postulate to evolution of random graphs and topics not typically covered in introductory courses.
