- Title Pages
- [UNTITLED]
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Two Thousand Years of Combinatorics
- Part II Ancient Combinatorics
- Chapter 1 Indian combinatorics
- Chapter 2 China
- Chapter 3 Islamic combinatorics
- Chapter 4 Jewish combinatorics
- Chapter 5 Renaissance combinatorics
- Chapter 6 The origins of modern combinatorics
- Chapter 7 The arithmetical triangle
- Part III Modern Combinatorics
- Chapter 8 Early graph theory
- Chapter 9 Partitions
- Chapter 10 Block designs
- Chapter 11 Latin squares
- Chapter 12 Enumeration (18th–20th centuries)
- Chapter 13 Combinatorial set theory
- Chapter 14 Modern graph theory
- Part IV Aftermath
- A Personal View of Combinatorics
- Notes on Contributors
- Picture Sources and Acknowledgements
- Index
Two Thousand Years of Combinatorics
Two Thousand Years of Combinatorics
- Chapter:
- (p.3) Two Thousand Years of Combinatorics
- Source:
- Combinatorics: Ancient and Modern
- Author(s):
DONALD E. KNUTH
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Early work on the generation of combinatorial patterns began as civilization itself was taking shape. The story is quite fascinating, and we will see that it spans many cultures in many parts of the world, with ties to poetry, music, and religion. There is space here to discuss only some of the principal highlights; but perhaps a few glimpses into the past will stimulate us to dig deeper into the roots of the subject, as the world gets ever smaller and as global scholarship continues to advance.
Keywords: combinatorics, poetry, music, religion
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- Title Pages
- [UNTITLED]
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Two Thousand Years of Combinatorics
- Part II Ancient Combinatorics
- Chapter 1 Indian combinatorics
- Chapter 2 China
- Chapter 3 Islamic combinatorics
- Chapter 4 Jewish combinatorics
- Chapter 5 Renaissance combinatorics
- Chapter 6 The origins of modern combinatorics
- Chapter 7 The arithmetical triangle
- Part III Modern Combinatorics
- Chapter 8 Early graph theory
- Chapter 9 Partitions
- Chapter 10 Block designs
- Chapter 11 Latin squares
- Chapter 12 Enumeration (18th–20th centuries)
- Chapter 13 Combinatorial set theory
- Chapter 14 Modern graph theory
- Part IV Aftermath
- A Personal View of Combinatorics
- Notes on Contributors
- Picture Sources and Acknowledgements
- Index