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Richard Stanley's two-volume basic introduction to enumerative combinatorics has become the standard guide to the topic for students and experts alike. This thoroughly revised second edition of volume two covers the composition of generating functions, in particular the exponential formula and the Lagrange inversion formula, labelled and unlabelled trees, algebraic, D-finite, and noncommutative generating functions, and symmetric functions. The chapter on symmetric functions provides the only available treatment of this subject suitable for an introductory graduate course and focusing on combinatorics, especially the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth algorithm. An appendix by Sergey Fomin covers some deeper aspects of symmetric functions, including jeu de taquin and the Littlewood-Richardson rule. The exercises in the book play a vital role in developing the material, and this second edition features over 400 exercises, including 159 new exercises on symmetric functions, all with solutions or references to solutions.
List of contents
Preface to Second Edition; Preface; 5. Trees and the Composition of Generating Functions; 6. Algebraic Generating Functions; 7. Symmetric Functions; Appendices: References; Index.
About the author
Richard P. Stanley is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor at the University of Miami. He has written over 180 research articles and six books. Among Stanley's many distinctions are membership in the National Academy of Sciences (elected in 1995) and the 2001 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition.
Summary
Richard Stanley's two-volume basic introduction to enumerative combinatorics has become the standard guide to the topic for students and experts alike. This updated edition provides the only comprehensive high-level treatment of enumerative combinatorics, including the theory of symmetric functions, with over 150 new exercises and solutions.
