Cornell Math - MATH 735, Spring 1999

MATH 735 — Spring 1999
Topics in Algebra

Instructor: Louis Billera

Time:  MW 8:40-9:55

Room: WE B25

An introduction to arrangments of hyperplanes, matroids and oriented matroids, with an emphasis on enumerative properties of each and their interrelations. In particular, we will consider the work of Zaslavsky relating the numbers of region cut out by an arrangment of hyperplanes in n dimensions to the various polynomials defined over the related intersection matroid.

As background, we will develop some of the basic methods of algebraic combinatorics, such as Moebius inversion on posets and lattices, and use them to relate the basic topological properties of these objects to their enumerative properties.

Prerequsites: graduate standing or permission of instructor