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Inquiry-Based Enumerative Combinatorics

One, Two, Skip a Few... Ninety-Nine, One Hundred

  • Textbook
  • © 2019

Overview

  • Equips readers with the fundamentals of enumerative combinatorics with an emphasis on generating function techniques
  • Promotes an engaging learning experience by utilizing Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)
  • Offers an accessible entry-point to enumerative combinatorics that builds from minimal prerequisites to a selection of advanced topics

Part of the book series: Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics (UTM)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

This textbook offers the opportunity to create a uniquely engaging combinatorics classroom by embracing Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) techniques. Readers are provided with a carefully chosen progression of theorems to prove and problems to actively solve. Students will feel a sense of accomplishment as their collective inquiry traces a path from the basics to important generating function techniques.


Beginning with an exploration of permutations and combinations that culminates in the Binomial Theorem, the text goes on to guide the study of ordinary and exponential generating functions. These tools underpin the in-depth study of Eulerian, Catalan, and Narayana numbers that follows, and a selection of advanced topics that includes applications to probability and number theory. Throughout, the theory unfolds via over 150 carefully selected problems for students to solve, many of which connect to state-of-the-art research.


Inquiry-Based Enumerative Combinatoricsis ideal for lower-division undergraduate students majoring in math or computer science, as there are no formal mathematics prerequisites. Because it includes many connections to recent research, students of any level who are interested in combinatorics will also find this a valuable resource.

Reviews

“The book is particularly suitable for IBL enthusiasts majoring in math or computer science.” (Andreas N. Philippou, zbMATH 1428.05001, 2020)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Mathematical Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, USA

    T. Kyle Petersen

About the author

T. Kyle Petersen is Professor of Mathematics at DePaul University in Chicago. His research interests lie in algebraic, enumerative, and topological combinatorics, and he has been an active member of the Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) community for over a decade. His graduate textbook, Eulerian Numbers, appears in Birkhäuser Advanced Texts Basler Lehrbücher.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Inquiry-Based Enumerative Combinatorics

  • Book Subtitle: One, Two, Skip a Few... Ninety-Nine, One Hundred

  • Authors: T. Kyle Petersen

  • Series Title: Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18308-0

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-18307-3Published: 24 August 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-18310-3Published: 25 August 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-18308-0Published: 28 June 2019

  • Series ISSN: 0172-6056

  • Series E-ISSN: 2197-5604

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 238

  • Number of Illustrations: 95 b/w illustrations, 9 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Combinatorics

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