Donald Knuth's influence in computer science ranges from the
invention of methods for translating and defining programming languages
to the mathematical analysis of algorithms and the creation of the
TeX typesetting system. His award-winning textbooks have become classics that
are often given credit for shaping the field; his scientific papers are widely
referenced and stand as milestones of development over a wide range of
topics. The present volume, which is the sixth in a series of his collected
papers, is devoted to his purely mathematical work, which spans the entire
range of discrete mathematics: permutations, partitions, identities,
recurrences, and combinatorial designs; matrix theory, number theory, graph
theory, probability theory, and a bit of algebra.
More than forty of Knuth's classic papers on the subject are collected in this
book, brought up to date with extensive revisions and dozens of pages of new
material. The papers emphasize general techniques that apply to many different
kinds of problems, together with the joy of discovery associated with
beautiful mathematical patterns. Knuth's prize-winning expositions of
mathematical notation, his accounts of fascinating episodes in the
history of mathematics, and his fundamental papers on tableaux and
random graphs all are found here, accompanied by 50 newly created
illustrations. Everyone who enjoys mathematics will take pleasure in
this unusually readable collection.
