MATHEMATICS · COMBINATORIAL ANALYSIS
Jiří Matoušek
Also known as: Jiri Matousek, Jirí Matousek
In this chapter, we introduce the concept of discrepancy.
— from Geometric Discrepancy
Most acclaimed
Geometric Discrepancy
What is the "most uniform" way of distributing n points in the unit square? How big is the "irregularity" necessarily present in any such distribution? Such questions are treated in geometric discrepancy theory. The book is an accessible and lively introduction to this area, with numerous exercises and illustrations. In separate, more specialized parts, it also provides a comprehensive guide to recent research. Including a wide variety of mathematical techniques (from harmonic analysis, combinatorics, algebra etc.) in action on non-trivial examples, the book is suitable for a "special topic" course for early graduates in mathematics and computer science. Besides professional mathematicians, it will be of interest to specialists in fields where a large collection of objects should be "uniformly" represented by a smaller sample (such as high-dimensional numerical integration in computational physics or financial mathematics, efficient divide-and-conquer algorithms in computer science, etc.). From the reviews: "...The numerous illustrations are well placed and instructive. The clear and elegant exposition conveys a wealth of intuitive insights into the techniques utilized. Each section usually consists of text, historical remarks and references for the specialist, and exercises. Hints are provided for the more difficult exercises, with the exercise-hint format permitting inclusion of more results than otherwise would be possible in a book of this size..." Allen D. Rogers, Mathematical Reviews Clippings (2001)
Using the Borsuk-Ulam theorem
2003
"The "Kneser conjecture" -- posed by Martin Kneser in 1955 in the Jahresbericht der DMV -- is an innocent-looking problem about partitioning the k-subsets of an n-set into intersecting subfamilies. Its striking solution by L. Lovász featured an unexpected use of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem, that is, of a genuinely topological result about continuous antipodal maps of spheres. Matousek's lively little textbook now shows that Lovász' insight as well as beautiful work of many others (such as Vrecica and Zivaljevic, and Sarkaria) have opened up an exciting area of mathematics that connects combinatorics, graph theory, algebraic topology and discrete geometry. What seemed like an ingenious trick in 1978 now presents itself as an instance of the "test set paradigm": to construct configuration spaces for combinatorial problems such that coloring, incidence or transversal problems may be translated into the (non-)existence of suitable equivariant maps. The vivid account of this area and its ramifications by Matousek is an exciting, a coherent account of this area of topological combinatorics. It features a collection of mathematical gems written with a broad view of the subject and still with loving care for details. Recommended reading! […]" Günter M.Ziegler (Berlin) Zbl. MATH Volume 1060 Productions-no.: 05001