Lectures on advances in combinatorics

Rudolf Ahlswede, Vladimir Blinovsky3540786015, 9783540786016

The main focus of these lectures is basis extremal problems and inequalities – two sides of the same coin. Additionally they prepare well for approaches and methods useful and applicable in a broader mathematical context.

Highlights of the book include a solution to the famous 4m-conjecture of Erd?s/Ko/Rado 1938, one of the oldest problems in combinatorial extremal theory, an answer to a question of Erd?s (1962) in combinatorial number theory “What is the maximal cardinality of a set of numbers smaller than n with no k+1 of its members pair wise relatively prime?”, and the discovery that the AD-inequality implies more general and sharper number theoretical inequalities than for instance Behrend’s inequality.

Several concepts and problems in the book arise in response to or by rephrasing questions from information theory, computer science, statistical physics. The interdisciplinary character creates an atmosphere rich of incentives for new discoveries and lends Ars Combinatoria a special status in mathematics.

At the end of each chapter, problems are presented in addition to exercises and sometimes conjectures that can open a reader’s eyes to new interconnections.