Are you looking for new lectures for your course on algorithms, combinatorial optimization, or algorithmic game theory? Maybe you need a convenient source of relevant, current topics for a graduate student or advanced undergraduate student seminar? Or perhaps you just want an enjoyable look at some beautiful mathematical and algorithmic results, ideas, proofs, concepts, and techniques in discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science? Gems of Combinatorial Optimization and Graph Algorithms is a handpicked collection of up-to-date articles, carefully prepared by a select group of international experts, who have contributed some of their most mathematically or algorithmically elegant ideas. Topics include longest tours and Steiner trees in geometric spaces, cartograms, resource buying games, congestion games, selfish routing, revenue equivalence and shortest paths, scheduling, linear structures in graphs, contraction hierarchies, budgeted matching problems, and motifs in networks. This volume is aimed at readers with some familiarity of combinatorial optimization, and appeals to researchers, graduate students, and advanced undergraduate students alike.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction by three of the leading experts in the field, collecting fundamental results and open problems in a single volume. Since Leavitt path algebras were first defined in 2005, interest in these algebras has grown substantially, with ring theorists as well as researchers working in graph C*-algebras, group theory and symbolic dynamics attracted to the topic. Providing a historical perspective on the subject, the authors review existing arguments, establish new results, and outline the major themes and ring-theoretic concepts, such as the ideal structure, Z-grading and the close link between Leavitt path algebras and graph C*-algebras. The book also presents key lines of current research, including the Algebraic Kirchberg Phillips Question, various additional classification questions, and connections to noncommutative algebraic geometry. Leavitt Path Algebras will appeal to graduate students and researchers working in the field and related areas, such as C*-algebras and symbolic dynamics. With its descriptive writing style, this book is highly accessible.

This book is an introduction to maximum-entropy models of random graphs with given topological properties and their applications. Its original contribution is the reformulation of many seemingly different problems in the study of both real networks and graph theory within the unified framework of maximum entropy. Particular emphasis is put on the detection of structural patterns in real networks, on the reconstruction of the properties of networks from partial information, and on the enumeration and sampling of graphs with given properties. After a first introductory chapter explaining the motivation, focus, aim and message of the book, chapter 2 introduces the formal construction of maximum-entropy ensembles of graphs with local topological constraints. Chapter 3 focuses on the problem of pattern detection in real networks and provides a powerful way to disentangle nontrivial higher-order structural features from those that can be traced back to simpler local constraints. Chapter 4 focuses on the problem of network reconstruction and introduces various advanced techniques to reliably infer the topology of a network from partial local information. Chapter 5 is devoted to the reformulation of certain "hard" combinatorial operations, such as the enumeration and unbiased sampling of graphs with given constraints, within a "softened" maximum-entropy framework. A final chapter offers various overarching remarks and take-home messages.By requiring no prior knowledge of network theory, the book targets a broad audience ranging from PhD students approaching these topics for the first time to senior researchers interested in the application of advanced network techniques to their field.

Learn how to use Thinking Machine Audio Dreams (ThMAD), a realtime audio visualization engine for Ubuntu Linux. This book bridges the gap between programmers and artists. Both artists and developers with an inclination towards arts will profit from this book since it is a combination of a hands-on tutorial, manual, and reference, with many illustrations that accompany the explanations and tutorials. You'll learn the basics of ThMAD's open source software suite and then start experimenting and building your own rendering pipelines to create audio visualizations. You'll see how to soundly use all ThMAD's GUI functionalities, and all modules are provided in a way that will serve both intellectual curiosity and professional needs. The examples that are used as part of the software, and the tutorials included in the book, will serve as a solid basis for your own experiments. What You'll Learn Use the ThMAD software, all GUI functionalities, and all modules Develop your own audio visualization projects Explore the program operations for ThMAD Artiste and ThMAD Player, including all possible options for controlling program operations. Who This Book Is For Visual artists with some IT background, or developers with artistic inclinations. Development experience is not required, but surely helpful.

This standard textbook of modern graph theory, now in its fifth edition, combines the authority of a classic with the engaging freshness of style that is the hallmark of active mathematics. It covers the core material of the subject with concise yet reliably complete proofs, while offering glimpses of more advanced methods in each field by one or two deeper results, again with proofs given in full detail. The book can be used as a reliable text for an introductory course, as a graduate text, and for self-study. From the reviews: "This outstanding book cannot be substituted with any other book on the present textbook market. It has every chance of becoming the standard textbook for graph theory." Acta Scientiarum Mathematiciarum "Deep, clear, wonderful. This is a serious book about the heart of graph theory. It has depth and integrity." Persi Diaconis & Ron Graham, SIAM Review "The book has received a very enthusiastic reception, which it amply deserves. A masterly elucidation of modern graph theory." Bulletin of the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications "Succeeds dramatically ... a hell of a good book." MAA Reviews "A highlight of the book is what is by far the best account in print of the Seymour-Robertson theory of graph minors." Mathematika " ... like listening to someone explain mathematics." Bulletin of the AMS

This volume presents some of the research topics discussed at the 2014-2015 Annual Thematic Program Discrete Structures: Analysis and Applications at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications during Fall 2014, when combinatorics was the focus. Leading experts have written surveys of research problems, making state of the art results more conveniently and widely available. The three-part structure of the volume reflects the three workshops held during Fall 2014. In the first part, topics on extremal and probabilistic combinatorics are presented; part two focuses on additive and analytic combinatorics; and part three presents topics in geometric and enumerative combinatorics. This book will be of use to those who research combinatorics directly or apply combinatorial methods to other fields.

Analytic Combinatorics: A Multidimensional Approach is written in a reader-friendly fashion to better facilitate the understanding of the subject. Naturally, it is a firm introduction to the concept of analytic combinatorics and is a valuable tool to help readers better understand the structure and large-scale behavior of discrete objects. Primarily, the textbook is a gateway to the interactions between complex analysis and combinatorics. The study will lead readers through connections to number theory, algebraic geometry, probability and formal language theory. The textbook starts by discussing objects that can be enumerated using generating functions, such as tree classes and lattice walks. It also introduces multivariate generating functions including the topics of the kernel method, and diagonal constructions. The second part explains methods of counting these objects, which involves deep mathematics coming from outside combinatorics, such as complex analysis and geometry. Features Written with combinatorics-centric exposition to illustrate advanced analytic techniques Each chapter includes problems, exercises, and reviews of the material discussed in them Includes a comprehensive glossary, as well as lists of figures and symbols About the author Marni Mishna is a professor of mathematics at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Her research investigates interactions between discrete structures and many diverse areas such as representation theory, functional equation theory, and algebraic geometry. Her specialty is the development of analytic tools to study the large-scale behavior of discrete objects.

The Art of Proving Binomial Identities accomplishes two goals: (1) It provides a unified treatment of the binomial coefficients, and (2) Brings together much of the undergraduate mathematics curriculum via one theme (the binomial coefficients). The binomial coefficients arise in a variety of areas of mathematics: combinatorics, of course, but also basic algebra (binomial theorem), infinite series (Newton's binomial series), differentiation (Leibniz's generalized product rule), special functions (the beta and gamma functions), probability, statistics, number theory, finite difference calculus, algorithm analysis, and even statistical mechanics. The book is very suitable for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students and includes various exercises asking them to prove identities. Students will find that the text and notes at the end of the chapters encourages them to look at binomial coefficients from different angles. With this learning experience, students will be able to understand binomial coefficients in a new way. Features: Provides a unified treatment of many of the techniques for proving binomial coefficient identities. Ties together several of the courses in the undergraduate mathematics curriculum via a single theme. A textbook for a capstone or senior seminar course in mathematics. Contains several results by the author on proof techniques for binomial coefficients that are not well-known. Ideal for self-study, it contains a large number of exercises at the end of each chapter, with hints or solutions for every exercise at the end of the book.

What Is Combinatorics Anyway? Broadly speaking, combinatorics is the branch of mathematics dealing with different ways of selecting objects from a set or arranging objects. It tries to answer two major kinds of questions, namely, counting questions: how many ways can a selection or arrangement be chosen with a particular set of properties; and structural questions: does there exist a selection or arrangement of objects with a particular set of properties? The authors have presented a text for students at all levels of preparation. For some, this will be the first course where the students see several real proofs. Others will have a good background in linear algebra, will have completed the calculus stream, and will have started abstract algebra. The text starts by briefly discussing several examples of typical combinatorial problems to give the reader a better idea of what the subject covers. The next chapters explore enumerative ideas and also probability. It then moves on to enumerative functions and the relations between them, and generating functions and recurrences., Important families of functions, or numbers and then theorems are presented. Brief introductions to computer algebra and group theory come next. Structures of particular interest in combinatorics: posets, graphs, codes, Latin squares, and experimental designs follow. The authors conclude with further discussion of the interaction between linear algebra and combinatorics. Features Two new chapters on probability and posets. Numerous new illustrations, exercises, and problems. More examples on current technology use A thorough focus on accuracy Three appendices: sets, induction and proof techniques, vectors and matrices, and biographies with historical notes, Flexible use of MapleTM and MathematicaTM

This brief focuses on introducing a novel mathematical framework, referred as hypergraph theory, to model and solve the multiple interferer scenarios for future wireless communication networks. First, in Chap. 1, the authors introduce the basic preliminaries of hypergraph theory in general, and develop two hypergraph based polynomial algorithms, i.e., hypergraph coloring and hypergraph clustering. Then, in Chaps. 2 and 3, the authors present two emerging applications of hypergraph coloring and hypergraph clustering in Device-to-Device (D2D) underlay communication networks, respectively, in order to show the advantages of hypergraph theory compared with the traditional graph theory. Finally, in Chap. 4, the authors discuss the limitations of using hypergraph theory in future wireless networks and briefly present some other potential applications. This brief introduces the state-of-the-art research on the hypergraph theory and its applications in wireless communications. An efficient framework is provided for the researchers, professionals and advanced level students who are interested in the radio resource allocation in the heterogeneous networks to solve the resource allocation and interference management problems.

This book addresses the emerging body of literature on the study of rare events in random graphs and networks. For example, what does a random graph look like if by chance it has far more triangles than expected? Until recently, probability theory offered no tools to help answer such questions. Important advances have been made in the last few years, employing tools from the newly developed theory of graph limits. This work represents the first book-length treatment of this area, while also exploring the related area of exponential random graphs. All required results from analysis, combinatorics, graph theory and classical large deviations theory are developed from scratch, making the text self-contained and doing away with the need to look up external references. Further, the book is written in a format and style that are accessible for beginning graduate students in mathematics and statistics.

Inspired by classical geometry, geometric group theory has in turn provided a variety of applications to geometry, topology, group theory, number theory and graph theory. This carefully written textbook provides a rigorous introduction to this rapidly evolving field whose methods have proven to be powerful tools in neighbouring fields such as geometric topology. Geometric group theory is the study of finitely generated groups via the geometry of their associated Cayley graphs. It turns out that the essence of the geometry of such groups is captured in the key notion of quasi-isometry, a large-scale version of isometry whose invariants include growth types, curvature conditions, boundary constructions, and amenability. This book covers the foundations of quasi-geometry of groups at an advanced undergraduate level. The subject is illustrated by many elementary examples, outlooks on applications, as well as an extensive collection of exercises.

In 1958, Ralph E. Gomory transformed the field of integer programming when he published a paper that described a cutting-plane algorithm for pure integer programs and announced that the method could be refined to give a finite algorithm for integer programming. In 2008, to commemorate the anniversary of this seminal paper, a special workshop celebrating fifty years of integer programming was held in Aussois, France, as part of the 12th Combinatorial Optimization Workshop. It contains reprints of key historical articles and written versions of survey lectures on six of the hottest topics in the field by distinguished members of the integer programming community. Useful for anyone in mathematics, computer science and operations research, this book exposes mathematical optimization, specifically integer programming and combinatorial optimization, to a broad audience.

A stimulating excursion into pure mathematics aimed at "the mathematically traumatized," but great fun for mathematical hobbyists and serious mathematicians as well. Requiring only high school algebra as mathematical background, the book leads the reader from simple graphs through planar graphs, Euler's formula, Platonic graphs, coloring, the genus of a graph, Euler walks, Hamilton walks, and a discussion of The Seven Bridges of Konigsberg. Exercises are included at the end of each chapter. "The topics are so well motivated, the exposition so lucid and delightful, that the book's appeal should be virtually universal ... Every library should have several copies" - Choice 1976 edition.

This undergraduate textbook provides an introduction to graph theory, which has numerous applications in modeling problems in science and technology, and has become a vital component to computer science, computer science and engineering, and mathematics curricula of universities all over the world. The author follows a methodical and easy to understand approach. Beginning with the historical background, motivation and applications of graph theory, the author first explains basic graph theoretic terminologies. From this firm foundation, the author goes on to present paths, cycles, connectivity, trees, matchings, coverings, planar graphs, graph coloring and digraphs as well as some special classes of graphs together with some research topics for advanced study. Filled with exercises and illustrations, Basic Graph Theory is a valuable resource for any undergraduate student to understand and gain confidence in graph theory and its applications to scientific research, algorithms and problem solving.

This book offers a concise and gentle introduction to finite element programming in Python based on the popular FEniCS software library. Using a series of examples, including the Poisson equation, the equations of linear elasticity, the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, and systems of nonlinear advection-diffusion-reaction equations, it guides readers through the essential steps to quickly solving a PDE in FEniCS, such as how to define a finite variational problem, how to set boundary conditions, how to solve linear and nonlinear systems, and how to visualize solutions and structure finite element Python programs. This book is open access under a CC BY license.

Featuring up-to-date coverage of three topics lying at the intersection of combinatorics and commutative algebra, namely Koszul algebras, primary decompositions and subdivision operations in simplicial complexes, this book has its focus on computations. "Computations and Combinatorics in Commutative Algebra" has been written by experts in both theoretical and computational aspects of these three subjects and is aimed at a broad audience, from experienced researchers who want to have an easy but deep review of the topics covered to postgraduate students who need a quick introduction to the techniques. The computational treatment of the material, including plenty of examples and code, will be useful for a wide range of professionals interested in the connections between commutative algebra and combinatorics.

This book is designed as a concise introduction to the recent achievements on spectral analysis of graphs or networks from the point of view of quantum (or non-commutative) probability theory. The main topics are spectral distributions of the adjacency matrices of finite or infinite graphs and their limit distributions for growing graphs. The main vehicle is quantum probability, an algebraic extension of the traditional probability theory, which provides a new framework for the analysis of adjacency matrices revealing their non-commutative nature. For example, the method of quantum decomposition makes it possible to study spectral distributions by means of interacting Fock spaces or equivalently by orthogonal polynomials. Various concepts of independence in quantum probability and corresponding central limit theorems are used for the asymptotic study of spectral distributions for product graphs.This book is written for researchers, teachers, and students interested in graph spectra, their (asymptotic) spectral distributions, and various ideas and methods on the basis of quantum probability. It is also useful for a quick introduction to quantum probability and for an analytic basis of orthogonal polynomials.

This book examines the problem of maintenance planning and scheduling in industrial production systems. It presents two practically relevant, deterministic mathematical models: the capacitated planned maintenance problem (CPMP) and the weighted uncapacitated planned maintenance problem (WUPMP). It introduces specific optimization algorithms such as construction heuristics, Lagrangean and tabu search metaheuristics. A problem independent hybrid approach links and alternates between two Lagrangean relaxations. It also analyzes the solvability with respect to the computational complexity of several problem classes, polyhedral properties and lower bounds. Computational studies demonstrate the performance of the heuristics, lower bounds, subgradients obtained from heuristics and the quality of dual information. This unique book includes implementation details and an introduction to the necessary theory making it suitable for upper undergraduate students.

This book gives a comprehensive treatment of the Grassmannian varieties and their Schubert subvarieties, focusing on the geometric and representation-theoretic aspects of Grassmannian varieties. Research of Grassmannian varieties is centered at the crossroads of commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, representation theory, and combinatorics. Therefore, this text uniquely presents an exciting playing field for graduate students and researchers in mathematics, physics, and computer science, to expand their knowledge in the field of algebraic geometry. The standard monomial theory (SMT) for the Grassmannian varieties and their Schubert subvarieties are introduced and the text presents some important applications of SMT including the Cohen-Macaulay property, normality, unique factoriality, Gorenstein property, singular loci of Schubert varieties, toric degenerations of Schubert varieties, and the relationship between Schubert varieties and classical invariant theory. This text would serve well as a reference book for a graduate work on Grassmannian varieties and would be an excellent supplementary text for several courses including those in geometry of spherical varieties, Schubert varieties, advanced topics in geometric and differential topology, representation theory of compact and reductive groups, Lie theory, toric varieties, geometric representation theory, and singularity theory. The reader should have some familiarity with commutative algebra and algebraic geometry.

Providing a self-contained resource for upper undergraduate courses in combinatorics, this text emphasizes computation, problem solving, and proof technique. In particular, the book places special emphasis the Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion and the Multiplication Principle. To this end, exercise sets are included at the end of every section, ranging from simple computations (evaluate a formula for a given set of values) to more advanced proofs. The exercises are designed to test students' understanding of new material, while reinforcing a working mastery of the key concepts previously developed in the book. Intuitive descriptions for many abstract techniques are included. Students often struggle with certain topics, such as generating functions, and this intuitive approach to the problem is helpful in their understanding. When possible, the book introduces concepts using combinatorial methods (as opposed to induction or algebra) to prove identities. Students are also asked to prove identities using combinatorial methods as part of their exercises. These methods have several advantages over induction or algebra.

This book introduces the latest visual effects (VFX) techniques that can be applied to game programming. The usefulness of the physicality-based VFX techniques, such as water, fire, smoke, and wind, has been proven through active involvement and utilization in movies and images. However, they have yet to be extensively applied in the game industry, due to the high technical barriers. Readers of this book can learn not only the theories about the latest VFX techniques, but also the methodology of game programming, step by step. The practical VFX processing techniques introduced in this book will provide very helpful information to game programmers. Due to the lack of instructional books about VFX-related game programming, the demand for knowledge regarding these high-tech VFXs might be very high.

This volume develops the depth and breadth of the mathematics underlying the construction and analysis of Hadamard matrices, and their use in the construction of combinatorial designs. At the same time, it pursues current research in their numerous applications in security and cryptography, quantum information, and communications. Bridges among diverse mathematical threads and extensive applications make this an invaluable source for understanding both the current state of the art and future directions. The existence of Hadamard matrices remains one of the most challenging open questions in combinatorics. Substantial progress on their existence has resulted from advances in algebraic design theory using deep connections with linear algebra, abstract algebra, finite geometry, number theory, and combinatorics. Hadamard matrices arise in a very diverse set of applications. Starting with applications in experimental design theory and the theory of error-correcting codes, they have found unexpected and important applications in cryptography, quantum information theory, communications, and networking.

Modern imaging techniques and computational simulations yield complex multi-valued data that require higher-order mathematical descriptors. This book addresses topics of importance when dealing with such data, including frameworks for image processing, visualization and statistical analysis of higher-order descriptors. It also provides examples of the successful use of higher-order descriptors in specific applications and a glimpse of the next generation of diffusion MRI. To do so, it combines contributions on new developments, current challenges in this area and state-of-the-art surveys. Compared to the increasing importance of higher-order descriptors in a range of applications, tools for analysis and processing are still relatively hard to come by. Even though application areas such as medical imaging, fluid dynamics and structural mechanics are very different in nature they face many shared challenges. This book provides an interdisciplinary perspective on this topic with contributions from key researchers in disciplines ranging from visualization and image processing to applications. It is based on the 5th Dagstuhl seminar on Visualization and Processing of Higher Order Descriptors for Multi-Valued Data. This book will appeal to scientists who are working to develop new analysis methods in the areas of image processing and visualization, as well as those who work with applications that generate higher-order data or could benefit from higher-order models and are searching for novel analytical tools.

This self-contained monograph explores a new theory centered around boolean representations of simplicial complexes leading to a new class of complexes featuring matroids as central to the theory. The book illustrates these new tools to study the classical theory of matroids as well as their important geometric connections. Moreover, many geometric and topological features of the theory of matroids find their counterparts in this extended context. Graduate students and researchers working in the areas of combinatorics, geometry, topology, algebra and lattice theory will find this monograph appealing due to the wide range of new problems raised by the theory. Combinatorialists will find this extension of the theory of matroids useful as it opens new lines of research within and beyond matroids. The geometric features and geometric/topological applications will appeal to geometers. Topologists who desire to perform algebraic topology computations will appreciate the algorithmic potential of boolean representable complexes.