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"This is a delightful little paperback which presents a day-by-day transcription of a course taught jointly by Pólya and Tarjan at Stanford University. Woods, the teaching assistant for the class, did a very good job of merging class notes into an interesting mini-textbook; he also included the exercises, homework, and tests assigned in the class (a very helpful addition for other instructors in the field). The notes are very well illustrated throughout and Woods and the Birkhäuser publishers produced a very pleasant text.
One can count on [Pólya and Tarjan] for new insights and a fresh outlook. Both instructors taught by presenting a succession of examples rather than by presenting a body of theory...[The book] is very well suited as supplementary material for any introductory class on combinatorics; as such, it is very highly recommended. Finally, for all of us who like the topic and delight in observing skilled professionals at work, this book is entertaining and, yes, instructive, reading." Mathematical Reviews (Review of the original hardcover edition)
"The mathematical community welcomes this book as a final contribution to honour the teacher G. Pólya." Zentralblatt MATH (Review of the original hardcover edition)
List of contents
Introduction.- Combinations and Permutations.- Generating Functions.- Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion.- Stirling Numbers.- Pólya's Theory of Counting.- Outlook.- Midterm Examination.- Ramsey Theory.- Matchings (Stable Marriages).- Matchings (Maximum Matchings).- Network Flow.- Hamiltonian and Eulerian Paths.- Planarity and the Four-Color Theorem.- Final Examination.- Bibliography.
Report
From the reviews:
"The purpose of this re-publication was to make modern classics books like this one remain accessible to new generations of students, scholars and researchers." (Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1195, 2010)
