A First Course in Combinatorial Optimization is a text for a one-semester introductory graduate-level course for students of operations research, mathematics, and computer science. It is a self-contained treatment of the subject, requiring only some mathematical maturity. Topics include: linear and integer programming, polytopes, matroids and matroid optimization, shortest paths, and network fl…
This self-contained introduction to algebraic topology is suitable for a number of topology courses. It consists of about one quarter 'general topology' (without its usual pathologies) and three quarters 'algebraic topology' (centred around the fundamental group, a readily grasped topic which gives a good idea of what algebraic topology is). The book has emerged from courses given at the Univer…
This book can form the basis of a second course in algebraic geometry. As motivation, it takes concrete questions from enumerative geometry and intersection theory, and provides intuition and technique, so that the student develops the ability to solve geometric problems. The authors explain key ideas, including rational equivalence, Chow rings, Schubert calculus and Chern classes, and readers …
This modern translation of Sophus Lie's and Friedrich Engel's “Theorie der Transformationsgruppen I” will allow readers to discover the striking conceptual clarity and remarkably systematic organizational thought of the original German text. Volume I presents a comprehensive introduction to the theory and is mainly directed towards the generalization of ideas drawn from the study of example…
This book provides a brief introduction to the theory of finite dimensional differential inclusions, and deals in depth with control of three kinds of differential inclusion systems. The authors introduce the algebraic decomposition of convex processes, the stabilization of polytopic systems, and observations of Luré systems. They also introduce the elemental theory of finite dimensional diffe…
Topics covered include: Fano and del Pezzo foliations; the cone theorem and rank one foliations; the structure of symmetric differentials on a smooth complex surface and a local structure theorem for closed symmetric differentials of rank two; an overview of lifting symmetric differentials from varieties with canonical singularities and the applications to the classification of AT bundles on si…
The book is inspired by the first seminar in a cycle connected to the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Politecnico di Milano. "Dealing with the Image Ivory Towers and Virtual Bridges" was the motto of this meeting, aiming to stimulate a discussion among engineers, designers and architects, all of whom are traditionally involved in the use of the Image as a specialized language suppo…
The book is inspired by the third seminar in a cycle connected to the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Politecnico di Milano (July 2013). "Educating by Image. Teaching Styles vs Learning Styles" was the motto of this meeting. The contributions (coming from lectures, the poster session, interviews and round table) aim to propose an updated look at visual education, highlighting how d…
This textbook treats two important and related matters in convex geometry: the quantification of symmetry of a convex set—measures of symmetry—and the degree to which convex sets that nearly minimize such measures of symmetry are themselves nearly symmetric—the phenomenon of stability. By gathering the subject’s core ideas and highlights around Grünbaum’s general notion of measure of…
This text presents the classical theory of conics in a modern form. It includes many novel results that are not easily accessible elsewhere. The approach combines synthetic and analytic methods to derive projective, affine and metrical properties, covering both Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries. With more than two thousand years of history, conic sections play a fundamental role in nume…