Combinatorics and Computing Group

A Combinatorial Object

Ferrers diagrams

Description: Ferrers diagrams showing the partitions of positive integers 1 through 8. They are so arranged that images under the reflection about the main diagonal of the square are conjugate partitions.

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News

MIT's new investment in establishing a College of Computing

The initiative marks the single largest investment in computing and AI by an American academic institution. See here.

Recent Advances in Extremal Combinatorics

This workshop will bring together many of the leading researchers in this area, both established and rising stars, to discuss the latest advances. See here.

Handbook of Enumerative Combinatorics

Publication of Handbook of Enumerative Combinatorics; for its review, see here

On the combinatorial work of Maryam Mirzakhani

Article in the Bulletin of the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications, see here.

Bulletin of the AMS Combinatorics Articles

Survey combinatorial articles in the recent issue of the Bulletin of the AMS by Gowers and Spielman, see here.

Electronic Journal of Combinatorics Dynamic Surveys

A set of survey articles on different combinatorial topics, see here.

Richard Guy turned 100 years old

For the event celebrating Richard Guy's 100th birthday, see here.

The Euler, Hall, Kirkman, and Stanton medals

Recently, Institute of Combinatorics and Its Applications (ICA) called for nominations for the Euler, Hall, and Kirkman medals plus a new Stanton medal to honor significant lifetime contributions to promoting the discipline of combinatorics. See the call here.

A journal for combinatorial physics

Recently, the journal of "Combinatorics, Physics and their Interactions" has been founded which is dedicated to the new research disipline of combinatorial physics. More info here.

Asymptotic resolution of Erdos-Szekres polygon problem

Andrew Suk has determined the correct exponential growth rate for the Erdos-Szekres polygon problem. More info here.

A quasi-polynomial time algorithm for graph isomorphism problem

Laszlo Babai claims that he has a quasi-polynomial time algorithm for graph isomorphism problem. More info here.

A New Book

Asymptopia
by Joel Spencer and Laura Florescu
More info here

Workshop

The First IPM-Isfahan Workshop on Combinatorics, May 20-22, 2014, IPM-Isfahan Branch, Isfahan, Iran.

More info.

Resolution of the existence conjecture for designs

Peter Keevash announces a proof of the existence conjecture for combinatorial designs, answering a question of Steiner from 1853. Read his preprint

here.

Amin Shokrollahi receives the 2012 IEEE Hamming Medal

Professor Amin Shokrollahi a former adjunct professor of school of mathematics of IPM received the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal together with Dr. Michael Luby, VP of Technology at Qualcomm, "for the conception, development and analysis of practical rateless codes."

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A New Book

Combinatorics: Ancient&Modern
Edited by Robin Wilson and John J. Watkins
and Foreword by Ronald Graham
You can read Peter Cameron's blog entry about this book here

Yousef Alavi obituary

Yousef Alavi, a native of Iran, Western Michigan University emeritus in mathematics and statistics, died May 21. He was 85.

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Breakthrough Prize

Lander Awarded Inaugural Breakthrough Prize
Eric S. Lander of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School has been awarded an inaugural 2013 Breakthrough Prize, which carries a cash award of 3,000,000 USD.

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G�del Prize

Three Computer Scientists Cited for Innovations that Improve Security
ACM�s Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT) together with the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS) will recognize three researchers for their contributions to cryptographic concepts and schemes that provide greater efficiency, flexibility, and security.

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A New Book

Difference Sets: Connecting Algebra, Combinatorics, and Geometry
Emily H. Moore
This text is suitable for an undergraduate capstone course, since it illuminates the many links among topics that the students have already studied. To this end, almost every chapter ends with a coda highlighting the main ideas and emphasizing mathematical connections. This book can also be used for self-study by anyone interested in these connections and concrete examples.

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Notices of the AMS: Interview with John H. Conway

An edited version of an interview with John Horton Conway conducted in July 2011 at the first International Mathematical Summer School for Students at Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany, published in Notice May 2013 issue.

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Kenneth Appel, 1932-2013

"Kenneth Appel, who proved the Four Color Theorem with Wolfgang Haken, died April 19 at the age of 80. Their proof, published in two parts in the Illinois Journal of Mathematics in 1977, was the first major proof that involved extensive computer calculations. The proof earned Appel and Haken the Delbert Ray Fulkerson Prize from the AMS and the Mathematical Programming Society in 1979. "

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New Mersenne Prime

"On January 25th Dr. Curtis Cooper discovered the 48th known Mersenne prime, 257,885,161-1, a 17,425,170 digit number. This find shatters the previous record prime number of 12,978,189 digits discovered over 4 years ago."

Alexander Razborov Receives 2013 AMS Robbins Prize

"Alexander Razborov is receiving the 2013 AMS David P. Robbins Prize. The Robbins Prize is given every three years for a paper that reports on novel research in algebra, combinatorics, or discrete mathematics. The prize will be awarded on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego."

A New Book

Large Networks and Graph Limits
L�szl� Lov�sz, E�tv�s Lor�nd University, Budapest, Hungary
Authored by a leading expert in the subject, this coherent and accessible book describes one recent approach to the study of large networks, the limit theory of graphs, which has emerged over the past decade and bears rich connections to other approaches to the study of large networks.

A Conference on the Occasion of Navin Singhi's 64th Birthday

Recent Trends in Discrete Mathematics, to be held at TIFR, Mumbai during December 17-20, 2012.
This conference has small number of speakers but included among them are some of the most eminent researchers. Many of the speakers have contributed path-breaking research work, which gave new direction to entire areas of discrete mathematics. Navin Singhi's own research work has strong connections with many of the topics mentioned above. We plan to celebrate Navin Singhi's 64th birthday by exploring these various facets of discrete mathematics.

Dan Hughes Passed Away

It has been a sad week for the finite geometry community with the recent news that Dan Hughes passed away on October 22. Dan was an enormous influence on the subject, the people, and the drive of our mathematical community; and his sudden passing is a shock to all of us.

Read more on Peter Cameron's blog
Read more on SymOmega

Chudnovsky and Spielman Named 2012 MacArthur Fellows

Maria Chudnovsky of Columbia University is named a 2012 MacArthur Fellow for her work on the classifications and properties of graphs.
Daniel Spielman of Yale University is named for his theoretical computer science work on abstract questions that affect the essential aspects of daily life in modern society.

Read more (in Persian)

A Visit by Shabnam Malik

Dr. Shabnam Malik from Forman Christian College University, Lahore, Pakistan, will be guest at IPM during August and September 2011. She will present a mathematics lecture at IPM on September 7, 2011, entitled: "Hamiltonicity in Directed Toeplitz Graphs".

A Visit by Hadi Kharaghani

Professor Hadi Kharaghani from University of Lethbridge in Canada will be guest at IPM during August 8-21, 2011.

Visit Hadi's homepage

2011 Cole Prize in Number Theory

The 2011 Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Number Theory is awarded to Chandrashekhar Khare and Jean-Pierre Wintenberger for their remarkable proof of Serre's modularity conjecture.

Chauvenet Prize

The Chauvenet Prize is the highest award for mathematical expository writing. It consists of a prize of $1000 and a certificate, and is awarded yearly by the Mathematical Association of America in recognition of an outstanding expository article on a mathematical topic. The prize is named in honor of William Chauvenet and was established through a gift from Julian Coolidge in 1925. Bjorn Poonen of MIT received the Chauvenet Prize in 2011.

Fractal Structure to Partition Function

In a collaborative effort sponsored by the American Institute of Mathematics and the National Science Foundation, a team of mathematicians led by K. Ono developed new techniques to explore the nature of the partition numbers. They proved that partition numbers are 'fractal' for every prime. Accompanying this result was another achievement developing an explicit finite formula for the partition function.

Math Overflow

Math Overflow is an interactive mathematics website, which serves both as a collaborative blog and an online community of mathematicians. It allows users to ask questions, submit answers, and rate both, all while getting brownie points for their activities. It is modeled after Stack Overflow, a similar forum for computer programming questions, and uses the Stack Exchange software engine.

A Lecture on Polynomials over Finite Fields

Professor Daniel Panario of Carleton University in Canada will present a mathematics lecture at IPM on June 20, 2011, entitled: "Polynomials over Finite Fields: Algorithms and Randomness".

A Mathematics Colloquium

Professor Hossein Shahmohamad of Rochester Institute of Technology in USA will present a mathematics colloquium at IPM on June 8, 2011, entitled: "Julius Petersen, his graph & its amallamorphs and homeomorphs".

One-day Workshop on Key Distribution

A workshop on key distribution was held successfully at the school of mathematics in IPM on May 24, 2011. The workshop was focussed on many aspects of key distribution such as key pre-distribution, cover-free families, group testing, separating hash families, perfect hash families, and frame-proof codes.

The P=NP Question and G�del�s Lost Letter: A new book

The P=NP question is one of the great problems of science, which has intrigued computer scientists and mathematicians for decades. Despite the abundant research in theoretical computer science regarding the P=NP question, it has not been solved.
The P=NP Question and G�del�s Lost Letter, written by Richard Lipton, is designed for advanced level students and researchers in computer science, and mathematics as a secondary text and reference book. Computer programmers, software developers and IT professionals working in the related industry of computer science theory, will also find this guide a valuable asset.

Feature Column from AMS

These web essays are designed for those who have already discovered the joys of mathematics as well as for those who may be uncomfortable with mathematics. Mathematics is a fast growing and evolving subject. The domain of ways that mathematics is being applied is growing by leaps and bounds. Examples include CT scans, audio CD's, face recognition systems, and cell phone technology. Our goal is to share our excitement about these developments with you.

Yueh-Gin Gung and Dr. Charles Y. Hu Award for 2011 to Joseph A. Gallian for Distinguished Service to Mathematics

Joseph A. Gallian, a mathematics professor at University of Minnesota Duluth, is known for his work toward increasing public understanding an appreciation of mathematics and his undergraduate research program.

A Conference in honor of the 70th birthday of Gyula Katona

The Alfr�d R�nyi Institute of Mathematics, the J�nos Bolyai Mathematical Society and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences are organizing a conference to celebrate the 70th birthday of Gyula Katona. The conference will be held on September 3-4, 2011 in Budapest, following EuroComb'11.

Paul Tur�n Memorial Conference

Paul Tur�n, one of the greatest Hungarian mathematicians was born 100 years ago, on August 18, 1910. To celebrate this occasion the Alfr�d R�nyi Institute of Mathematics, the J�nos Bolyai Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Institute of E�tv�s Lor�nd University are organizing an international conference devoted to Paul Tur�n's main areas of interest: number theory, selected branches of analysis, and selected branches of combinatorics.

A Visit by Alexandr V. Kostochka

Professor Alexandr Kostochka from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, will be guest at IPM during May 14-19, 2011. During his visit, he will give two lectures entitled:
1. List Colorings of Dense Hypergraphs;
2. K_{s, t} Minors in (s+t)-Chromatic Graphs.

Workshop on Graphs and Algorithms

A workshop on Graphs and Algorithms is jointly organized by the School of Mathematics & the School of Computer Science and is scheduled to be held at IPM on June 1-2, 2011. Members of the organizing committee include Saieed Akbari, Gholamreza Khosrovshahi, Mohammad Ali Safari, and Hamid Sarbazi-Azad.

AMS Notices: Combinatorics

The June/July 2010 issue of the Notices of the AMS highlights the subject of combinatorics. Over the last 30 years, combinatorics and finite mathematics have become central to the creation of collaboration graphs, Google search algorithms, random graphs, and internet routing. They also play a vital part in queueing theory and the solutions of coloring problems. To showcase these and other related topics and to stress the inspirational role of combinatorics, the June/July issue contains these key features: "The Giant Component: The Golden Anniversary", by Joel Spencer; "The Mathematical Side of M. C. Escher", by Doris Schattschneider; "Graph Theory in the Information Age", by Fan Chung, and "Hadwiger's Conjecture", by Maria Chudnovsky.

Association for Women in Mathematics

The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is a non-profit organization founded in 1971. The purpose of the Association for Women in Mathematics is to encourage women and girls to study and to have active careers in the mathematical sciences, and to promote equal opportunity and the equal treatment of women and girls in the mathematical sciences.

Andries Brouwer is 60

On the occasion of the sixtieth birthday of Andries Brouwer, a two day symposium on Algebraic Combinatorics and Graph Theory is organised by Aart Blokhuis and Hans Cuypers on March 3-4, 2011 in Eindhoven. Invited speakers for the symposium are: Peter Cameron, Chris Godsil, Willem Haemers, Jack Koolen and Lex Schrijver.

Read more
Read the report of the symposium here by Peter Cameron.

A New MAA Book: Resources for Teaching Discrete Mathematics

This Book presents nineteen classroom tested projects complete with student handouts, solutions, and notes to the instructor. Topics range from a first day activity that motivates proofs to applications of discrete mathematics to chemistry, biology, and data storage. Other projects provide: supplementary material on classic topics such as the towers of Hanoi and the Josephus problem, how to use a calculator to explore various course topics, how to employ Cuisenaire rods to examine the Fibonacci numbers and other sequences, and how you can use plastic pipes to create a geodesic dome.

Linear Algebraic Techniques in Combinatorics/Graph Theory

A workshop on Linear Algebraic Techniques in Combinatorics and Graph Theory was held at Banff International Research Station (BIRS), from January 30 to February 4, 2011. Six Iranian combinatorialists: Saieed Akbari, Hadi Kharaghani, Gholamreza B. Khosrovshahi, Ali Mohammadian, Azhvan Sheikh Ahmady and Behruz Tayfeh-Rezaie attended the workshop.

IUT Combinatorics Day

This is a one day seminar on combinatorics, graph theory and related topics which will be held at Isfahan University of Technology on Wednesday, Feruary 23, 2011.

The Third Conference on Algebraic Combinatorics

This conference will be held at University of Isfahan, February 24-25, 2011, with the cooperation of IPM Combinatorics and Computing Group.