Books in the Australian Mathematical Society Lecture Series series

To attack certain problems in 4-dimensional knot theory the author draws on a variety of techniques, focusing on knots in S^T4, whose fundamental groups contain abelian normal subgroups. Their class contains the most geometrically appealing and best understood examples.

This bold and refreshing approach to Lie algebras assumes only modest prerequisites (linear algebra up to the Jordan canonical form and a basic familiarity with groups and rings), yet it reaches a major result in representation theory: the highest-weight classification of irreducible modules of the general linear Lie algebra. The author's exposition is focused on this goal rather than aiming at the widest generality and emphasis is placed on explicit calculations with bases and matrices. The book begins with a motivating chapter explaining the context and relevance of Lie algebras and their representations and concludes with a guide to further reading. Numerous examples and exercises with full solutions are included. Based on the author's own introductory course on Lie algebras, this book has been thoroughly road-tested by advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students and it is also suited to individual readers wanting an introduction to this important area of mathematics.

A complex reflection is a linear transformation which fixes each point in a hyperplane. Intuitively, it resembles the transformation an image undergoes when it is viewed through a kaleidoscope, or arrangement of mirrors. This book gives a complete classification of all groups of transformations of n-dimensional complex space which are generated by complex reflections, using the method of line systems. In particular: irreducible groups are studied in detail, and are identified with finite linear groups; reflection subgroups of reflection groups are completely classified; the theory of eigenspaces of elements of reflection groups is discussed fully; an appendix outlines links to representation theory, topology and mathematical physics. Containing over 100 exercises ranging in difficulty from elementary to research level, this book is ideal for honours and graduate students, or for researchers in algebra, topology and mathematical physics.

Algebra has moved well beyond the topics discussed in standard undergraduate texts on 'modern algebra'. Those books typically dealt with algebraic structures such as groups, rings and fields: still very important concepts! However Quantum Groups: A Path to Current Algebra is written for the reader at ease with at least one such structure and keen to learn algebraic concepts and techniques. A key to understanding these new developments is categorical duality. A quantum group is a vector space with structure. Part of the structure is standard: a multiplication making it an 'algebra'. Another part is not in those standard books at all: a comultiplication, which is dual to multiplication in the precise sense of category theory, making it a 'coalgebra'. While coalgebras, bialgebras and Hopf algebras have been around for half a century, the term 'quantum group', along with revolutionary new examples, was launched by Drinfel'd in 1986.

Enumerative combinatorics, in its algebraic and analytic forms, is vital to many areas of mathematics, from model theory to statistical mechanics. This book, drawn from many years of teaching, invites students into the subject and prepares them for more advanced texts. It is suitable as a class text or for individual study.

Despite their classical nature, continued fractions are a neverending research area, with a body of results accessible enough to suit a wide audience, from researchers to students and even amateur enthusiasts. Neverending Fractions brings these results together, offering fresh perspectives on a mature subject. Beginning with a standard introduction to continued fractions, the book covers a diverse range of topics, from elementary and metric properties, to quadratic irrationals, to more exotic topics such as folded continued fractions and Somos sequences. Along the way, the authors reveal some amazing applications of the theory to seemingly unrelated problems in number theory. Previously scattered throughout the literature, these applications are brought together in this volume for the first time. A wide variety of exercises guide readers through the material, which will be especially helpful to readers using the book for self-study, and the authors also provide many pointers to the literature.

This is a rigorous introduction to real analysis for undergraduate students, starting from the axioms for a complete ordered field and a little set theory. The book avoids any preconceptions about the real numbers and takes them to be nothing but the elements of a complete ordered field. All of the standard topics are included, as well as a proper treatment of the trigonometric functions, which many authors take for granted. The final chapters of the book provide a gentle, example-based introduction to metric spaces with an application to differential equations on the real line. The author's exposition is concise and to the point, helping students focus on the essentials. Over 200 exercises of varying difficulty are included, many of them adding to the theory in the text. The book is perfect for second-year undergraduates and for more advanced students who need a foundation in real analysis.

This book provides a concise and accessible exposition of a wide range of topics in geometric approaches to differential equations. Written by leading experts, it is suitable for graduate students, researchers and anybody wishing to learn more about this burgeoning field of mathematics.

This book provides an accessible graduate-level introduction to the finite classical groups and gives the first unified account of conjugacy and geometry of elements of prime order. The authors also provide a detailed discussion of derangements, making this book an essential resource for all researchers interested in permutation groups.

The focus in this undergraduate text is on mathematical modelling stimulated by contemporary industrial problems involving heat conduction and mass diffusion. These problems prove to be an excellent setting for the introduction and reinforcement of modelling skills, equation solving techniques, qualitative understanding of partial differential equations and their dynamical properties.

This book on the foundations of Euclidean geometry aims to present the subject from the point of view of present day mathematics. The treatment is self-contained and thorough.

This introduction to optimization emphasizes the need for both a pure and an applied mathematical point of view. The author's straightforward, geometrical approach makes this an attractive textbook for undergraduate students of mathematics, engineering, operations research and economics.

Any student wishing to solve problems via mathematical modelling will find that this book provides an excellent introduction to the subject.

The authors examine various areas of graph theory, using the prominent role of the Petersen graph as a unifying feature. A number of unsolved problems as well as topics of recent study are also included. The book will be useful for second courses in graph theory or as a reference for specialists.

This volume contains original research articles by many of the world's leading researchers in algebraic and Lie groups. Its inclination is algebraic and geometric, although analytical aspects are included. All workers on algebraic and Lie groups will find that this book contains a wealth of interesting material.

The mathematical theory underlying many sporting activities is of considerable interest to both applied mathematicians and sporting enthusiasts. Here Professor de Mestre presents a rigorous account of the techniques applied to the motion of projectiles. An enlightening collection of sporting applications is considered: from soccer to table-tennis and from high-jump to frisbees.

The first genuinely rigorous definition of an integral was that given by Riemann, and further (more general, and so more useful) definitions have since been given by many others. This textbook provides a unified-yet-elementary introduction to this theory and is suitable for beginning graduate and final year undergraduate students.

This book concerns ways of representing sporadic simple groups and about their associated graphs. It gives a classification of all low rank permutation representations of the sporadic groups, with the parameter values for all associated vertex-transitive graphs. Sufficient information is given about the groups and graphs to enable readers to re-construct and study them themselves.

Presents topics currently of great interest, generally at the interface between mathematics and physics, and also where suitable expositions did not previously exist at a level suitable for graduate students.

Here is a textbook that presents ideas about chaos in discrete time dynamics in a form where they should be accessible to anyone who has taken a first course in undergraduate calculus. Remarkably, it manages to do so without discarding a commitment to mathematical substance and rigour.

The mathematical theory of wavelets is intrinsically advanced. However, the author's elementary approach makes this text an excellent introduction to the subject for senior undergraduate students. The theory is supplemented by more than 200 exercises so students can explore the fundamental ideas and numerous applications of wavelets.

An introduction to the analysis of metric and normed linear spaces for undergraduate students in mathematics. The student is exposed to the axiomatic method in analysis and is shown its power in exploiting the structure of fundamental analysis, which underlies a variety of applications. Graded exercises are provided.

This book provides an easy introduction to the theory of differentiable manifolds. The authors then show how the theory can be used to develop, simply but rigorously, the theory of Lanrangian mechanics directly from Newton's laws. Unnecessary abstraction has been avoided to produce an account suitable for students in mathematics or physics who have taken courses in advanced calculus.

Designed for one-semester courses for senior undergraduates, this 2003 book approaches topics initially through convergence of sequences in metric space. However, the alternative topological approach is also described. Applications are included from differential and integral equations, systems of linear algebraic equations, approximation theory, numerical analysis and quantum mechanics.