Analytic Combinatorics, Part II

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Next Session:

March 2013 (5 weeks long)

Workload: 6-8 hours/week 

About the Course

Analytic Combinatorics is based on formal methods for deriving functional relationships on generating functions and asymptotic analysis treating those functions as functions in the complex plane. Part II covers the symbolic method for defining generating functions immediately from combinatorial constructions, then develops methods for directly deriving asymptotic results from those generating functions, using complex asymptotics, singularity analysis, saddle-point asymptotics, and limit laws. The course teaches the precept "if you can specify it, you can analyze it".

About the Instructor(s)

Robert Sedgewick is the William O. Baker Professor of Computer Science at Princeton, where he was the founding chair of the Department of Computer Science. He received the Ph.D. degree from Stanford University, in 1975. Prof. Sedgewick also served on the faculty at Brown University and has held visiting research positions at Xerox PARC, Palo Alto, CA, Institute for Defense Analyses, Princeton, NJ, and INRIA, Rocquencourt, France. He is a member of the board of directors of Adobe Systems. Prof. Sedgewick's interests are in analytic combinatorics, algorithm design, the scientific analysis of algorithms, curriculum development, and innovations in the dissemination of knowledge. He has published widely in these areas and is the author of several books.

Course Syllabus

 Lecture  1  Combinatorial Structures and OGFs

 Lecture  2  Labelled Structures and EGFs

 Lecture  3  Combinatorial Parameters and MGFs

 Lecture  4  Complex Analysis, Rational and Meromorphic Asymptotics

 Lecture  5  Applications of Rational and Meromorphic Asymptotics

 Lecture  6  Singularity Analysis of Generating Functions

 Lecture  7  Applications of Singularity Analysis

 Lecture  8  Saddle-Point Asymptotics

 Lecture  9  Multivariate Asymptotics and Limit Laws

 Lecture 10  Mellin Transform Asymptotics

Recommended Background

You need basic familiarity with programming in Java and the algorithms and data structures from Algorithms,Part I, or equivalent experience/preparation in math and CS.

Suggested Readings

This course is based on the textbook Analytic Combinatorics by Flajolet and Sedgewick. The (free) web version of the textbook can be found athttp://ac.cs.princeton.edu/home/

Course Format

There will be two lectures (80 minutes each) and a problem set each week. There will also be a final exam.

FAQ

• Does Princeton award credentials or reports regarding my work in this course?
  No certificates, statements of accomplishment, or other credentials will be awarded in connection with this course.