Now with solutions to selected problems, this bestselling textbook presents the tools of combinatorics from an applied point of view. It focuses on three basic problems of combinatorics: counting, existence, and optimization problems. The text contains many examples from the biological, computer, and social sciences, including disease screening, genome mapping, satellite communication, search engines, telecommunications traffic, web data, sound systems, oil drilling, dynamic labor markets, data mining, and distributed computing. It also offers numerous references to the literature of combinatorics and its applications that enable readers to delve more deeply into the topics.

Fred S. Roberts is Professor of Mathematics and Director of DIMACS at Rutgers University.

Barry Tesman is Professor of Mathematics at Dickinson College.

What Is Combinatorics? THE BASIC TOOLS OF COMBINATORICS: Basic Counting Rules. Introduction to Graph Theory. Relations. THE COUNTING PROBLEM: Generating Functions and Their Applications. Recurrence Relations. The Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion. The Polya Theory of Counting. THE EXISTENCE PROBLEM: Combinatorial Designs. Coding Theory. Existence Problems in Graph Theory. COMBINATORIAL OPTIMIZATION: Matching and Covering. Optimization Problems for Graphs and Networks. Appendix. Indices.