A book on the subject of normal families more than sixty years after the publication of Montel's treatise Ler;ons sur les familles normales de fonc tions analytiques et leurs applications is certainly long overdue. But, in a sense, it is almost premature, as so much contemporary work is still being produced. To misquote Dickens, this is the best of times, this is the worst of times. The intervening years have seen developments on a broad front, many of which are taken up in this volume. A unified treatment of the classical theory is also presented, with some attempt made to preserve its classical flavour. Since its inception early this century the notion of a normal family has played a central role in the development of complex function theory. In fact, it is a concept lying at the very heart of the subject, weaving a line of thought through Picard's theorems, Schottky's theorem, and the Riemann mapping theorem, to many modern results on meromorphic functions via the Bloch principle. It is this latter that has provided considerable impetus over the years to the study of normal families, and continues to serve as a guiding hand to future work. Basically, it asserts that a family of analytic (meromorphic) functions defined by a particular property, P, is likely to be a normal family if an entire (meromorphic in

This book presents in a clear and systematic manner the general theory of normal families, quasi-normal families and Qm-normal families of meromorphic functions, and various applications. Much of this book contains results of the author's research, among them is the notion of Qm-normality which includes the classical notions of normality and quasi-normality introduced by Montel as particular cases. In this book, the notion of closed families of meromorphic functions is also introduced. In addition, applications concerning the existence of the solution of various extremal problems for certain classes of univalent or multivalent functions can also be found.

This book presents in a clear and systematic manner the general theory of normal families, quasi-normal families and Qm-normal families of meromorphic functions, and various applications. Much of this book contains results of the author's research, among them is the notion of m-normality which includes the classical notions of normality and quasi-normality introduced by Montel as particular cases. In this book, the notion of closed families of meromorphic functions is also introduced. In addition, applications concerning the existence of the solution of various extremal problems for certain classes of univalent or multivalent functions can also be found.

"Value Distribution of Meromorphic Functions" focuses on functions meromorphic in an angle or on the complex plane, T directions, deficient values, singular values, potential theory in value distribution and the proof of the celebrated Nevanlinna conjecture. The book introduces various characteristics of meromorphic functions and their connections, several aspects of new singular directions, new results on estimates of the number of deficient values, new results on singular values and behaviours of subharmonic functions which are the foundation for further discussion on the proof of the Nevanlinna conjecture. The independent significance of normality of subharmonic function family is emphasized. This book is designed for scientists, engineers and post graduated students engaged in Complex Analysis and Meromorphic Functions. Dr. Jianhua Zheng is a Professor at the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Tsinghua University, China.

Mathematics is a beautiful subject, and entire functions is its most beautiful branch. Every aspect of mathematics enters into it, from analysis, algebra, and geometry all the way to differential equations and logic. For example, my favorite theorem in all of mathematics is a theorem of R. NevanJinna that two functions, meromorphic in the whole complex plane, that share five values must be identical. For real functions, there is nothing that even remotely corresponds to this. This book is an introduction to the theory of entire and meromorphic functions, with a heavy emphasis on Nevanlinna theory, otherwise known as value-distribution theory. Things included here that occur in no other book (that we are aware of) are the Fourier series method for entire and mero morphic functions, a study of integer valued entire functions, the Malliavin Rubel extension of Carlson's Theorem (the "sampling theorem"), and the first-order theory of the ring of all entire functions, and a final chapter on Tarski's "High School Algebra Problem," a topic from mathematical logic that connects with entire functions. This book grew out of a set of classroom notes for a course given at the University of Illinois in 1963, but they have been much changed, corrected, expanded, and updated, partially for a similar course at the same place in 1993. My thanks to the many students who prepared notes and have given corrections and comments.

This book offers a modern introduction to Nevanlinna theory and its intricate relation to the theory of normal families, algebraic functions, asymptotic series, and algebraic differential equations. Following a comprehensive treatment of Nevanlinna’s theory of value distribution, the author presents advances made since Hayman’s work on the value distribution of differential polynomials and illustrates how value- and pair-sharing problems are linked to algebraic curves and Briot–Bouquet differential equations. In addition to discussing classical applications of Nevanlinna theory, the book outlines state-of-the-art research, such as the effect of the Yosida and Zalcman–Pang method of re-scaling to algebraic differential equations, and presents the Painlevé–Yosida theorem, which relates Painlevé transcendents and solutions to selected 2D Hamiltonian systems to certain Yosida classes of meromorphic functions. Aimed at graduate students interested in recent developments in the field and researchers working on related problems, Nevanlinna Theory, Normal Families, and Algebraic Differential Equations will also be of interest to complex analysts looking for an introduction to various topics in the subject area. With examples, exercises and proofs seamlessly intertwined with the body of the text, this book is particularly suitable for the more advanced reader.

This book introduces value distribution theory over non-Archimedean fields, starting with a survey of two Nevanlinna-type main theorems and defect relations for meromorphic functions and holomorphic curves. Secondly, it gives applications of the above theory to, e.g., abc-conjecture, Waring's problem, uniqueness theorems for meromorphic functions, and Malmquist-type theorems for differential equations over non-Archimedean fields. Next, iteration theory of rational and entire functions over non-Archimedean fields and Schmidt's subspace theorems are studied. Finally, the book suggests some new problems for further research. Audience: This work will be of interest to graduate students working in complex or diophantine approximation as well as to researchers involved in the fields of analysis, complex function theory of one or several variables, and analytic spaces.