Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2010
A large body of mathematics consists of facts that can be presented and described much like any other natural phenomenon. These facts, at times explicitly brought out as theorems, at other times concealed within a proof, make up most of the applications of mathematics, and are the most likely to survive changes of style and of interest.
This ENCYCLOPEDIA will attempt to present the factual body of all mathematics. Clarity of exposition, accessibility to the non-specialist, and a thorough bibliography are required of each author. Volumes will appear in no particular order, but will be organized into sections, each one comprising a recognizable branch of present-day mathematics. Numbers of volumes and sections will be reconsidered as times and needs change.
It is hoped that this enterprise will make mathematics more widely used where it is needed, and more accessible in fields in which it can be applied but where it has not yet penetrated because of insufficient information.
The theory of partitions is one of the very few branches of mathematics that can be appreciated by anyone who is endowed with little more than a lively interest in the subject. Its applications are found wherever discrete objects are to be counted or classified, whether in the molecular and the atomic studies of matter, in the theory of numbers, or in combinatorial problems from all sources.
Professor Andrews has written the first thorough survey of this many sided field. The specialist will consult it for the more recondite results, the student will be challenged by many a deceptively simple fact, and the applied scientist may locate in it the missing identity he needs to organize his data.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.