This book presents methods of solving problems in three areas of elementary combinatorial mathematics: classical combinatorics, combinatorial arithmetic, and combinatorial geometry. Brief theoretical discussions are immediately followed by carefully worked-out examples of increasing degrees of difficulty and by exercises that range from routine to rather challenging. The book features approximately 310 examples and 650 exercises.

Configurations can be studied from a graph-theoretical viewpoint via the so-called Levi graphs and lie at the heart of graphs, groups, surfaces, and geometries, all of which are very active areas of mathematical exploration. In this self-contained textbook, algebraic graph theory is used to introduce groups; topological graph theory is used to explore surfaces; and geometric graph theory is implemented to analyze incidence geometries. After a preview of configurations in Chapter 1, a concise introduction to graph theory is presented in Chapter 2, followed by a geometric introduction to groups in Chapter 3. Maps and surfaces are combinatorially treated in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 introduces the concept of incidence structure through vertex colored graphs, and the combinatorial aspects of classical configurations are studied. Geometric aspects, some historical remarks, references, and applications of classical configurations appear in the last chapter. With over two hundred illustrations, challenging exercises at the end of each chapter, a comprehensive bibliography, and a set of open problems, Configurations from a Graphical Viewpoint is well suited for a graduate graph theory course, an advanced undergraduate seminar, or a self-contained reference for mathematicians and researchers.

The aim of the monographs is to foster effective intra- and interdisciplinary communication between geneticists, and plant and animal breeders. This is to be achieved by publishing authoritative up-to-date texts; concise, but at the same time comprehensive, monographs, and multiauthor volumes on theoretical and applied genetics. The following broad fields of genetics and breeding are within the scope of the series: Evolutionary genetics Developmental genetics Population genetics Biochemical genetics Ecological genetics Somatic cell genetics Biometrical genetics Agricultural genetics Cytogenetics Mutation breeding Radiation genetics Breeding methodology Acceptable subjects for the Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Genetics are basic and applied aspects of genetic variation; genetic resources; genetic exchange and reproduction; mutagenesis; genotype-environment interaction; gene structure, regulation, action, expression and interaction; chromosomal and extrachromosomal inheritance of economic traits, and genetic models and simulations. September 1975 The Editors Preface Meiotic configurations are looked at from a special point of view in this book: the extraction from them of the maximal amount of quantitative information of genetic interest. Although this requires a certain understanding of their origin and consequences, much of what is known about chromosomes and their for mation into the special structures collected under the rather indiscriminate term I "configuration", is not considered relevant for this purpose, and simply neglected.

This is the only book on the topic of geometric configurations of points and lines. It presents in detail the history of the topic, with its surges and declines since its beginning in 1876. It covers all the advances in the field since the revival of interest in geometric configurations some 20 years ago. The author's contributions are central to this revival. In particular, he initiated the study of 4-configurations (that is, those that contain four points on each line, and four lines through each point); the results are fully described in the text. The main novelty in the approach to all geometric configurations is the concentration on their symmetries, which make it possible to deal with configurations of rather large sizes. The book brings the readers to the limits of present knowledge in a leisurely way, enabling them to enjoy the material as well as entice them to try their hand at expanding it.

Family Configurations develops current scholarship on families and intimate lives by demonstrating that family relationships, far from being fluid and inconsequential, are more structured and committed than ever. By applying social network methods to uncover the relational patterns of contemporary families, this book draws on recent developments in family sociology, social network analysis and kinship studies to present a fascinating interdisciplinary approach to the family.

Octavio Paz, the 1990 Nobel Laureate, has won distinction as an anthropologist, philosopher and critic of art and literature. But it is as a poet that he is most celebrated. Configurations was his first major collection to be published in this country, and includes in their entirety Sun Stone (1957) and Blanco (1967). Paz himself translated many of the poems from the Spanish. Some distinguished contributors to this bilingual edition include, among others, Paul Blackburn, Lysander Kemp, Denise Levertov, and Muriel Rukeyser.