Search

Starting from simple generalizations of factorials and binomial coefficients, this book gives a friendly and accessible introduction to $q$-analysis, a subject consisting primarily of identities between certain kinds of series and products. Many applications of these identities to combinatorics and number theory are developed in detail. There are numerous exercises to help students appreciate the beauty and power of the ideas, and the history of the subject is kept consistently in view. The book has few prerequisites beyond calculus. It is well suited to a capstone course, or for self-study in combinatorics or classical analysis. Ph.D. students and research mathematicians will also find it useful as a reference.

Alladi Ramakrishnan (1923–2008) was an eminent scientist who had a wide range of research interests in theoretical and mathematical physics. Professor Ramakrishnan made signi?cant contributions to probability and statistics, elem- tary particle physics, cosmic rays and astrophysics, matrix theory, and the special theory of relativity. Ramakrishnan believedstrongly that in addition to doing fun- mental research, one must contribute to the advancementof the profession. Inspired by his visit to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1957–1958, he returned to Madras and began the Theoretical Physics Seminar at his family home Ekamra Nivas. These seminars were ultimately responsible for the creation of MATSCIENCE, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences in 1962. This institute, of which he was the Director for its?rst 21years, has grown steadily in size and stature, and is his monumental contribution to the profession. In a distinguished scienti?c life that has spanned more than?ve decades, Professor Ramakrishnan has come into close contact with, and was in?uenced by, several eminent mathema- cians and physicists, and has moulded the careers of his several students and young researchers. This volume, which is a tribute to his great legacy, not only deals with his signi?cant contributions to research and the profession, but also contains a?ne collection of research and survey papers by leading physicists and mathematicians that cover a broad range of areas in the mathematical sciences.