This book offers a gentle introduction to the mathematics of both sides of game theory: combinatorial and classical. The combination allows for a dynamic and rich tour of the subject united by a common theme of strategic reasoning. Designed as a textbook for an undergraduate mathematics class and with ample material and limited dependencies between the chapters, the book is adaptable to a variety of situations and a range of audiences. Instructors, students, and independent readers alike will appreciate the flexibility in content choices as well as the generous sets of exercises at various levels.
This book takes the reader on a journey through Ramsey theory, from graph theory and combinatorics to set theory to logic and metamathematics. Written in an informal style with few requisites, it develops two basic principles of Ramsey theory: many combinatorial properties persist under partitions, but to witness this persistence, one has to start with very large objects. The interplay between those two principles not only produces beautiful theorems but also touches the very foundations of mathematics. In the course of this book, the reader will learn about both aspects. Among the topics explored are Ramsey's theorem for graphs and hypergraphs, van der Waerden's theorem on arithmetic progressions, infinite ordinals and cardinals, fast growing functions, logic and provability, Gödel incompleteness, and the Paris-Harrington theorem. Quoting from the book, “There seems to be a murky abyss lurking at the bottom of mathematics. While in many ways we cannot hope to reach solid ground, mathematicians have built impressive ladders that let us explore the depths of this abyss and marvel at the limits and at the power of mathematical reasoning at the same time. Ramsey theory is one of those ladders.”
This book challenges and intrigues from beginning to end. It would be a treat to use for a capstone course or senior seminar. —William J. Satzer, MAA Reviews on Glimpses of Soliton Theory (First Edition) Solitons are nonlinear waves which behave like interacting particles. When first proposed in the 19th century, leading mathematical physicists denied that such a thing could exist. Now they are regularly observed in nature, shedding light on phenomena like rogue waves and DNA transcription. Solitons of light are even used by engineers for data transmission and optical switches. Furthermore, unlike most nonlinear partial differential equations, soliton equations have the remarkable property of being exactly solvable. Explicit solutions to those equations provide a rare window into what is possible in the realm of nonlinearity. Glimpses of Soliton Theory reveals the hidden connections discovered over the last half-century that explain the existence of these mysterious mathematical objects. It aims to convince the reader that, like the mirrors and hidden pockets used by magicians, the underlying algebro-geometric structure of soliton equations provides an elegant explanation of something seemingly miraculous. Assuming only multivariable calculus and linear algebra, the book introduces the reader to the KdV Equation and its multisoliton solutions, elliptic curves and Weierstrass $wp$-functions, the algebra of differential operators, Lax Pairs and their use in discovering other soliton equations, wedge products and decomposability, the KP Hierarchy, and Sato's theory relating the Bilinear KP Equation to the geometry of Grassmannians. Notable features of the book include: careful selection of topics and detailed explanations to make the subject accessible to undergraduates, numerous worked examples and thought-provoking exercises, footnotes and lists of suggested readings to guide the interested reader to more information, and use of Mathematica® to facilitate computation and animate solutions. The second edition refines the exposition in every chapter, adds more homework exercises and projects, updates references, and includes new examples involving non-commutative integrable systems. Moreover, the chapter on KdV multisolitons has been greatly expanded with new theorems providing a thorough analysis of their behavior and decomposition.
Hilbert's tenth problem is one of 23 problems proposed by David Hilbert in 1900 at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris. These problems gave focus for the exponential development of mathematical thought over the following century. The tenth problem asked for a general algorithm to determine if a given Diophantine equation has a solution in integers. It was finally resolved in a series of papers written by Julia Robinson, Martin Davis, Hilary Putnam, and finally Yuri Matiyasevich in 1970. They showed that no such algorithm exists. This book is an exposition of this remarkable achievement. Often, the solution to a famous problem involves formidable background. Surprisingly, the solution of Hilbert's tenth problem does not. What is needed is only some elementary number theory and rudimentary logic. In this book, the authors present the complete proof along with the romantic history that goes with it. Along the way, the reader is introduced to Cantor's transfinite numbers, axiomatic set theory, Turing machines, and Gödel's incompleteness theorems. Copious exercises are included at the end of each chapter to guide the student gently on this ascent. For the advanced student, the final chapter highlights recent developments and suggests future directions. The book is suitable for undergraduates and graduate students. It is essentially self-contained.
This book features plane curves—the simplest objects in differential geometry—to illustrate many deep and inspiring results in the field in an elementary and accessible way. After an introduction to the basic properties of plane curves, the authors introduce a number of complex and beautiful topics, including the rotation number (with a proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra), rotation index, Jordan curve theorem, isoperimetric inequality, convex curves, curves of constant width, and the four-vertex theorem. The last chapter connects the classical with the modern by giving an introduction to the curve-shortening flow that is based on original articles but requires a minimum of previous knowledge. Over 200 figures and more than 100 exercises illustrate the beauty of plane curves and test the reader's skills. Prerequisites are courses in standard one variable calculus and analytic geometry on the plane.
This book is a reader-friendly introduction to the theory of symmetric functions, and it includes fundamental topics such as the monomial, elementary, homogeneous, and Schur function bases; the skew Schur functions; the Jacobi–Trudi identities; the involution ω ω; the Hall inner product; Cauchy's formula; the RSK correspondence and how to implement it with both insertion and growth diagrams; the Pieri rules; the Murnaghan–Nakayama rule; Knuth equivalence; jeu de taquin; and the Littlewood–Richardson rule. The book also includes glimpses of recent developments and active areas of research, including Grothendieck polynomials, dual stable Grothendieck polynomials, Stanley's chromatic symmetric function, and Stanley's chromatic tree conjecture. Written in a conversational style, the book contains many motivating and illustrative examples. Whenever possible it takes a combinatorial approach, using bijections, involutions, and combinatorial ideas to prove algebraic results. The prerequisites for this book are minimal—familiarity with linear algebra, partitions, and generating functions is all one needs to get started. This makes the book accessible to a wide array of undergraduates interested in combinatorics.
Graphs measure interactions between objects such as friendship links on Twitter, transactions between Bitcoin users, and the flow of energy in a food chain. While graphs statically represent interacting systems, they may also be used to model dynamic interactions. For example, imagine an invisible evader loose on a graph, leaving only behind breadcrumb clues to their whereabouts. You set out with pursuers of your own, seeking out the evader's location. Would you be able to detect their location? If so, then how many resources are needed for detection, and how fast can that happen? These basic-seeming questions point towards the broad conceptual framework of pursuit-evasion games played on graphs. Central to pursuit-evasion games on graphs is the idea of optimizing certain parameters, whether they are the cop number, burning number, or localization number, for example. This book would be excellent for a second course in graph theory at the undergraduate or graduate level. It surveys different areas in graph searching and highlights many fascinating topics intersecting classical graph theory, geometry, and combinatorial designs. Each chapter ends with approximately twenty exercises and five larger scale projects.
This book uses finite field theory as a hook to introduce the reader to a range of ideas from algebra and number theory. It constructs all finite fields from scratch and shows that they are unique up to isomorphism. As a payoff, several combinatorial applications of finite fields are given: Sidon sets and perfect difference sets, de Bruijn sequences and a magic trick of Persi Diaconis, and the polynomial time algorithm for primality testing due to Agrawal, Kayal and Saxena. The book forms the basis for a one term intensive course with students meeting weekly for multiple lectures and a discussion session. Readers can expect to develop familiarity with ideas in algebra (groups, rings and fields), and elementary number theory, which would help with later classes where these are developed in greater detail. And they will enjoy seeing the AKS primality test application tying together the many disparate topics from the book. The pre-requisites for reading this book are minimal: familiarity with proof writing, some linear algebra, and one variable calculus is assumed. This book is aimed at incoming undergraduate students with a strong interest in mathematics or computer science.
The title “Random Explorations” has two meanings. First, a few topics of advanced probability are deeply explored. Second, there is a recurring theme of analyzing a random object by exploring a random path. This book is an outgrowth of lectures by the author in the University of Chicago Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) program in 2020. The idea of the course was to expose advanced undergraduates to ideas in probability research. The book begins with Markov chains with an emphasis on transient or killed chains that have finite Green's function. This function, and its inverse called the Laplacian, is discussed next to relate two objects that arise in statistical physics, the loop-erased random walk (LERW) and the uniform spanning tree (UST). A modern approach is used including loop measures and soups. Understanding these approaches as the system size goes to infinity requires a deep understanding of the simple random walk so that is studied next, followed by a look at the infinite LERW and UST. Another model, the Gaussian free field (GFF), is introduced and related to loop measure. The emphasis in the book is on discrete models, but the final chapter gives an introduction to the continuous objects: Brownian motion, Brownian loop measures and soups, Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLE), and the continuous Gaussian free field. A number of exercises scattered throughout the text will help a serious reader gain better understanding of the material.
Galois theory is the culmination of a centuries-long search for a solution to the classical problem of solving algebraic equations by radicals. In this book, Bewersdorff follows the historical development of the theory, emphasizing concrete examples along the way. As a result, many mathematical abstractions are now seen as the natural consequence of particular investigations. Few prerequisites are needed beyond general college mathematics, since the necessary ideas and properties of groups and fields are provided as needed. Results in Galois theory are formulated first in a concrete, elementary way, then in the modern form. Each chapter begins with a simple question that gives the reader an idea of the nature and difficulty of what lies ahead. The applications of the theory to geometric constructions, including the ancient problems of squaring the circle, duplicating the cube, and trisecting the angle, and the construction of regular n n-gons are also presented. This new edition contains an additional chapter as well as twenty facsimiles of milestones of classical algebra. It is suitable for undergraduates and graduate students, as well as teachers and mathematicians seeking a historical and stimulating perspective on the field.
