Combinatorics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Combinatorics is a large branch of mathematics involving the counting, selecting, and arranging of objects. Robin Wilson explores the field, looking at problems such as the shortest routes from A to B, to the number of Sudoku puzzles possible.

Robin Wilson is an Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, Emeritus Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, and a former fellow of Keble College, Oxford University. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. A former President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, he has written and edited many books on the history of mathematics, including Lewis Carroll in Numberland, and also on graph theory, including Introduction to Graph Theory and Four Colours Suffice. Involved with the popularization of mathematics and its history, he has been awarded the Mathematical Association of America's Lester Ford award and Pólya prize for his 'outstanding expository writing', and the Ralph Stanton Award for outreach activities in combinatorics. He has Erdõs Number 1.