Advanced Combinatorics

Notwithstanding its title, the reader will not find in this book a systematic account of this huge subject. Certain classical aspects have been passed by, and the true title ought to be "Various questions of elementary combina­ torial analysis". For instance, we only touch upon the subject of graphs and configurations, but there exists a very extensive and good literature on this subject. For this we refer the reader to the bibliography at the end of the volume. The true beginnings of combinator