A Unified Account of Permutations in Modern Combinatorics

A 2006 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, the first edition of this bestseller was lauded for its detailed yet engaging treatment of permutations. Providing more than enough material for a one-semester course, Combinatorics of Permutations, Second Edition continues to clearly show the usefulness of this subject for both students and researchers.

Expanded Chapters

Much of the book has been significantly revised and extended. This edition includes a new section on alternating permutations and new material on multivariate applications of the exponential formula. It also discusses several important results in pattern avoidance as well as the concept of asymptotically normal distributions.

New Chapter

An entirely new chapter focuses on three sorting algorithms from molecular biology. This emerging area of combinatorics is known for its easily stated and extremely difficult problems, which sometimes can be solved using deep techniques from seemingly remote branches of mathematics.

Additional Exercises and Problems

All chapters in the second edition have more exercises and problems. Exercises are marked according to level of difficulty and many of the problems encompass results from the last eight years.

Reviews

How is the newcomer to this subject able to make sense of and sort out these bewildering possibilities? Until now it was necessary to consult a myriad of sources, from textbooks to journal articles, in order to grasp the whole picture. Now, however, Miklós Bóna has provided us with a comprehensive, engaging, and eminently readable introduction to all aspects of the combinatorics of permutations. The chapter on pattern avoidance is especially timely and gives the first systematic treatment of this fascinating and active area of research.

This book can be utilized at a variety of levels, from random samplings of the treasures therein to a comprehensive attempt to ml the material and solve all the exercises. In whatever direction the reader’s tastes lead, thorough enjoyment and appreciation of a beautiful area of combinatorics are certain to ensue.

—From the Foreword by Richard Stanley, MIT

Praise for the First Edition:

Winner of a 2006 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award

One can easily imagine gems from this book forming the basis of a Martin Gardner-type column … the fascinating chapters here on pattern avoidance, particularly the formulation and proof of the Stanley-Wilf and Furedi-Hajnal conjectures, make this book essential … The author shows himself the master expositor, always efficient while never terse, ever the clairvoyant and generous anticipator of misreadings that might trip readers. Summing Up: Essential.

—CHOICE

Throughout the book, there are frequent references to the excellent bibliography of more than two hundred research articles and books. It is clear that the author fi...