Thomas Zaslavsky's Home Page

Courses (Spring 2009)

Math 511: Introduction to Combinatorics

Textbook: van Lint and Wilson, A Course in Combinatorics, second edition.
Course home page.
Class meetings: M, W, F 1:10 - 2:10 in LN-2205, and F 3:30 - 4:30 in LN-2206.
Continuation of Fall Math 581: Topics in Graph Theory:
Graphs, Gain Graphs, and Geometry (a.k.a. Signed Graphs and their Friends)

This is a half course, run as an independent study.
Textbook: none. Course notes: yours!
Course home page.
Class meetings: Tu 4:25 - 5:50, Th 1:15 - 2:40 in LN-2206.

Office hours (Spring 2009)

I'll be around most afternoons.

Office hours: M, W 2:20 - 3:30, F 2:20 - 3:00

Past Courses

Thomas Zaslavsky

Professor
Ph.D., 1974, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
At Binghamton since 1985

Areas of interest: Combinatorics, graph theory
Summary of research interests
Math Reviews list of published papers. (Institutional subscription to MathSciNet is needed for viewing.)

E-mail: zaslav@math.binghamton.edu

Phone: (607)-777-2201

Fax: (607)-777-2450

Office: LN 2231
Office hours:

M,W 2:20-3:20

F 2:20-3:00

Courses:

Fall 2009

Math 330	Section 01:	Number systems
	MWF	10:50 - 11:50	LN-G335
	T	10:05 - 11:30	SW-321
Math 386	Section 01:	Combinatorics
	MWF	1:10 - 2:10	SW-329
	T	11:40 - 1:05	SW-329
Math 563	Section 01:	Combinatorics Seminar
	T	1:15 - 2:15	LN-2205

Ph. D. Students:
- Rigoberto Florez, Summer, 2005
  Thesis: Four Studies in the Geometry of Biased Graphs
- Lori Koban, Summer, 2004
  Thesis: Two Generalizations of Biased Graph Theory: Circuit Signatures and Modular Triples of Matroids, and Biased Expansions of Biased Graphs
- Steven Tedford, Spring, 2002
  Thesis: A Characterization of the Mixed Branching Greedoid
- Daniel Slilaty, Summer, 2000
  Thesis: Orientations of Biased Graphs and Their Matroids
- Steve Pagano, Spring, 1998
  Thesis: Separability and Representability of Bias Matroids of Signed Graphs

Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land
unto all the Inhabitants Thereof

The Liberty Bell
(from Leviticus 25:10)

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin, 1755

Quotations of the Month:

To the Editor:

William Kristol ["The Next War President", column, Jan. 19] argues that one of President George W. Bush's accomplishments was keeping the country safe.

So specifically, how many major terrorist attacks on American soil had there been before 9/11 and what reason do we have to believe that there would have been more without the efforts of the Bush administration?

The available evidence, it seems to me, points to the conclusion that most of the terrorist plots that were supposedly nipped in the bud by the administration were never viable threats to anyone.

--Joseph Turner, Portland, Ore., Jan. 19, 2009
The writer is a former analyst and station chief for the Central Intelligence Agency.

-- The New York Times, January 25, 2009

Past quotations of the month.

Economics 101:

Tax exemptions for privileged groups brought high taxes on industry and agriculture, and emigration increased.

-- Article on Charles II of Spain, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 5th ed., 1993.

Research

My Publications and So Forth
A list of published and selected unpublished works.
A list arranged by topics.

My Research Interests
Combinatorics, especially matroids, arrangements of hyperplanes, and the topic to which I devote most of my attention, signed graphs and their relatives: see
The Home Page of Signed, Gain, and Biased Graphs
at which you will find the Mathematical Bibliography, the Glossary, and a glacially growing list of research problems.

Other Places, On and Off Site

Combinatorics Seminar

Combinatorics News
- Gian-Carlo Rota (Our Hero!)
- eXtreme Combinatorics: Design theory schedules the XFL season. (February 3, 2001.)
- A Hat Problem: It sounds like a parlor game -- but it's mathematical coding theory. (April 10, 2001.)
- Our professors have their own number.
- The End of a Reign in Graph Theory: W.T. Tutte Dies, May 2, 2002.
- Archimedes did combinatorics 2200 years ago! Read all about it!
- Sphere packing: Solved at last? or, What is a proof, really?
- A statistical analysis of The New Yorker's fiction. (Not combinatorics, but it's an unusual senior thesis!)
- Obituary of Frank Harary, who liked to be called "Mr. Graph Theory".
- A book on probability that sounds like fascinating fun, full of anecdotes and math: CHANCES ARE... Adventures in Probability, by Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan (New York Times review).

African Mathematics, Multicultural Math, and Math Education
- A small and selective bibliography, classified by topic, concentrating on the works of Claudia Zaslavsky.
- A moderately complete chronological bibliography of the works of Claudia Zaslavsky.
- A brief life of Claudia Zaslavsky.

Historical
- N.E. Discrete Mathematics Day at Binghamton (Oct. 10, 2003): Program
- Binghamton meeting of the A.M.S. (Oct. 11-12, 2003): Program of the Special Session on Dowling Lattices

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Go to the Math Sciences Department home page.

M,W	2:20-3:20
F	2:20-3:00