Abstract
Matroid theory (sometimes viewed as the theory of combinatorial geometries or geometric lattices) is reasonably young as a mathematical theory (its traditional birthday is given as 1935 with the appearance of [159]) but has steadily developed over the years and shown accelerated growth recently due, in large part, to two applications. The first is in the field of algorithms. To coin an oversimplification: “when a good algorithm is known, a matroid structure is probably hidden away somewhere.” In any event, many of the standard good algorithms (such as the greedy algorithm) and many important ones whose complexities are currently being scrutinized (e.g., existence of a Hamiltonian path) can be thought of as matroid algorithms. In the accompanying lecture notes of Professor Welsh the connections between matroids and algorithms are presented.
Another important application of matroids is the theory of the Tutte polynomial
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Arrowsmith, D. K. and Jaeger, F., “On the enumeration of chains in regular chain-groups ” (preprint, 1980).
Baclawski, K., “Whitney numbers of geometric lattices,” Advances in Math. 16 (1975), 125–138.
——, “The Möbius algebra as a Grothendieck ring,” J. of Algebra 57 (1979), 167–179.
Barlotti, A., “Some topics in finite geometrical structures,” Institute of Statistics Mimeo Series No. 439, Department of Statistics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C, 1965.
——, “Bounds for k-caps in PG(r,q) useful in the theory of error correcting codes,” Institute of Statistics Mimeo Series No. 484.2, Department of Statistics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C, 1966.
——, “Results and problems in Galois geometry,” Colloquium on Combinatorics and its Applications, June, 1978, Colorado State University.
Bessinger, J. S., “On external activity and inversion in trees” (preprint).
Biggs, N., Algebraic Graph Theory, Cambridge University Press, 1974.
——, “Resonance and reconstruction,” Proc. Seventh British Combinatorial Conference, Cambridge U. Press, 1979, 1–21.
Birkhoff, G. D., “A Determinant formula for the number of ways of coloring a map,” Ann. of Math. (2) 14 (1913), 42–46.
Birkhoff, G. D. and Lewis, D. C., “Chromatic polynomials,” Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 60 (1946), 355–451.
Bixby, R. E., “A omposition for matroids,” J. Comb. Th. (B) 18 (1975), 59–73.
Björmer, A., “On the homology of geometric lattices,” (preprint: 1977 No. 9, Matematiska Institutionen Stockholms Universitet, Stockholm, Sweden).
——, “Homology of matroids ” (preprint, to appear Combinatorial Geometries, H. Crapo, G.-C. Rota, N. White eds.).
Björner, A., “Some matroid inequalities,” Disc. Math. 31 (1980), 101–103.
Bland, R. G. and Las Vergnas, M., “Orientability of matroids,” J. Comb. Th. (B) 24 (1978), 94–123.
Bondy, J. A. and Hemminger, R. L., “Graph reconstruction A survey,” Research Report CORR 76–49, Dept. of Comb. and Opt., University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 1976.
Bondy, J. A. and Murty, U. S. R., Graph Theory with Applications, Macmillan, London; American Elsevier, New York, 1976.
Brini, A., “A class of rank-invariants for perfect matroid designs,” Europ. J. Comb. 1 (1980), 33–38.
Brooks, R. L., “On colouring the nodes of a network,” Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc. 37 (1941), 194–197.
Brouwer, A. E. and Schriver, A., “The blocking number of an affine space,” J. Comb. Th. (A) 24 (1978), 251–253.
Bruen, A. A. and de Resmini, M., “Blocking sets in affine planes” (preprint, 1981).
Bruen, A. A. and Thas, J. A., “Blocking sets,” Geom. Dedic. 6 (1977), 193–203.
Brylawski, T., “A Combinatorial model for series-parallel networks,” Transactions of the AMS, 154 (1971), 1–22.
——, “Some properties of basic families of subsets,” Disc. Math. 6 (1973), 333–341.
——, “The Tutte-Grothendieck ring,” Algebra Universalis 2 (1972), 375–388.
——, “A Decomposition for combinatorial geometries,” Transactions of the AMS, 171 (1972), 235–282.
——, “Reconstructing combinatorial geoemetries,” Graphs and Combinatorics, Springer-Verlag, Lecture Notes in Mathematics 406 (1974), 226–235.
——, “Modular constructions for combinatorial geometries,” Transactions of AMS, 203 (1975), 1–44.
——, “On the nonreconstructibility of combinatorial geometries,” Journal of Comb. Theory (B), 19 (1975), 72–76.
Brylawski, T., “An Affine representation for transversal geometries,” Studies in Applied Mathematics, 54 (1975), 143–160.
——, “A Combinatorial perspective on the Radon convexity theorem”, Geometriae Dedicata, 5 (1976), 459–466.
——, “A Determinantal identity for resistive networks,” SIAM J. Appl. Math., 32 (1977), 443–449.
——, “Connected matroids with smallest Whitney numbers,” Discrete Math. 18 (1977), 243–252.
——, ”The Broken-circuit complex,” Transactions of AMS, 234 (1977), 417–433.
——, “Geometrie combinatorie e Loro applicazioni” (1977). “Funzioni di Möbius” (1977). “Teoria dei Codici e matroidi” (1979). “Matroidi coordinabili” (1981). University of Rome Lecture Series.
——, “Intersection theory for embeddings of matroids into uniform geometries,” Studies in Applied Mathematics 61 (1979), 211”244.
——, “The Affine dimension of the space of intersection matrices,” Rendiconti di Mathematics 13 (1980), 59–68.
——, “Intersection theory for graphs,” J. Comb. Th. (B) 30 (1981), 233–246.
——, “Hyperplane reconstruction of the Tutte polynomial of a geometric lattice,” Discrete Math. 35 (1981), 25–38.
Brylawski, T. and Kelly, D., “Matroids and combinatorial geometries,” Studies in Combinatorics, G.-C. Rota, ed., Math. Association of America, 1978.
x2014;—, Matroids and Combinatorial Geometries, Carolina Lecture Series Volumn 8, Chapel Hill, N. C., 1980.
Brylawski, T., Lo Re, P. M., Mazzocca, F., and Olanda, D., “Alcune applicazioni della Teoria dell' intersezione alle geometrie di Galois,” Ricerche di Matematica 29 (1980), 65–84.
Brylawski, T. and Lucas, T. D., “Uniquely representable combinatorial geometries,” Proceedings of the Colloquio Internazionale sul tema Teorie Combinatorie, Rome, 1973, Atti Dei Convegni Lincei 17, Tomo I (1976), 83–104.
Brylawski, T. and Oxley, J., “The Broken-circuit complex: its structure and factorizations,” European J. Combinatorics 2 (1981), 107–121.
——, “Several identities for the characteristic polynomial of a combinatorial geometry,” Discrete Math. 31 (1980), 161–170.
Cardy, S., “The Proof of and generalisations to a conjecture by Baker and Essam,” Discrete Math. 4 (1973), 101–122.
Cordovil, R., “Contributions à la théorie des géométries combinatories,” Thesis, 1'Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
——, “Sur 1'evaluation t(M;2,0) du polynome de Tutte d'un matroïde et une conjecture de B. Griinbaum relative aux arrangements de droites du plan ” (preprint, 1980).
Cordovil, R., Las Vergnas, M., and Mandel, A., “Euler's relation, Mobius functions, and matroid identities” (preprint, 1980).
Cossu, A., “Su alcune propretà dei {k,n}-archi di un piano proiettivo sopra un corpo finito,” Rend. di Mat. (5), 20 (1961), 271–277.
Crapo, H. H., “The Mobius function of a lattice,” J. Comb. Th. 1 (1966), 126–131.
x2014;—, “A Higher invariant for matroids,” J. Comb. Th. 2 (1967), 406–417.
x2014;—, “Möbius inversion in lattices,” Archiv. der Math. 19 (1968), 595–607.
——, “The Joining of exchange geometries,” J. Math. Mech. 17 (1968), 837–852.
——, “The Tutte polynomial,” Aequationes Math. 3 (1969), 211–229.
——, “Chromatic polynomials for a join of graphs,” Colloquia Mathematica Societatis János Bolyai, Combinatorial Theory and its Applications, Balatonfüred (Hungary), 1969, 239–245.
x2014;—, “Erecting geometries,” Proceedings of 2nd Chapel Hill Conference on Combinatorial Math. (1970), 74–99.
——, “Constructions in combinatorial geometries,” (N.S.F. Advanced Science Seminar in Combinatorial Theory) (Notes, Bowdoin College), 1971).
Crapo, H. H. and Rota, G.-C, “On the Foundations of Combinatorial Theory: Combinatorial Geometries (preliminary edition), M.I.T. Press, 1970.
d'Antona, 0. and Kung, J. P. S., “Coherent orientations and series-parallel networks,” Disc. Math. 32 (1980), 95–98.
Deza, M., “On perfect matroid designs,” Proc. Kyoto Conference, 1977, 98–108.
Deza, M. and Singi, N. M., “Some properties of perfect matroid designs,” Ann. Disc. Math. 6 (1980).
Dirac, G. A., “A roperty of 4-chromatic graphs and some remarks on critical graphs,” J. London Math. Soc. 27 (1952), 85–92.
Dowling, T. A., “Codes, packings and the critical problem,” Atti del Convegno di Geometria Combinatoria e sue Applicazioni (Perugia, 1971), 210–224.
——, “A Class of geometric lattices based on finite groups,” J. Comb. Th. 13, (1973), 61–87.
x2014;—, “A q-analog of the partition lattice,” A Survey of Combinatorial Theory, North Holland (1973), 101–115.
Dowling, T. A. and Wilson, R. M., “The Slimmest geometric lattices,” Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 196 (1974), 203–215.
Edmonds, J. and Fulkerson, D. R., “Transversals and matroid partition,” J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. 69B (1965), 147–153.
Edmonds, J., Murty, U. S. R., and Young, P., “Equicardinal matroids and matroid designs,” Combinatorial Mathematics and its Applications, Chapel Hill, N. C., (1970), 498–582.
Essam, J. W., “Graph theory and statistical physics,” Discrete Math. 1 (1971), 83–112.
Goldman, J. and Rota, G.-C, “The Number of subspaces of a vector space,” Recent Progress in Combinatorics, Academic Press, New York, 1969, 75–83.
Greene, C., “An Inequality for the Möbius function of a geometric lattice,” Proc. Conf. on Möbius Algebras (Waterloo), 1971; also: Studies in Appl. Math. 54 (1975), 71–74.
x2014;—, “On the Mobius algebra of a partially ordered set,” Advances in Math. 10 (1973), 177–187.
——, “Weight enumeration and the geometry of linear codes,” Studies in Appl. Math. 55 (1976), 119–128.
——, “Acyclic orientations,” (Notes), Higher Combinatorics, M. Aigner, ed., D. Reidel, Dordrecht (1977), 65–68.
Greene, C. and Zaslavsky, T., “On the interpretation of Whitney numbers through arrangements of hyperplanes, zonotopes, non-Radon partitions, and acyclic orientations of graphs ” (preprint, 1980).
Greenwell, D. L. and Hemminger, R. L., “Reconstructing graphs,” The Many Facets of Graph Theory, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969, 91–114.
Hardy, G. H., Littlewood, J. E., and Pólya, G., Inequalities, Cambridge U. Press, 1934.
Heron, A. P., “Matroid polynomials,” Combinatorics (Institute of Math. & Appl.) D. J. A. Welsh and D. R. Woodall, eds., 164–203.
Hsieh, W. N. and Kleitman, D. J., “Normalized matching in direct products of partial orders,” Studies in Applied Math. 52 (1973), 285–289.
——, “Flows and generalized coloring theorems in graphs,” J. Comb. Th. (B) 26 (1979), 205–216.
——, “A Constructive approach to the critical problem ” (to appear: Europ. J_. Combinatorics, 1981).
Kahn, J. and Kung, J. P. S., “Varieties and universal models in the theory of combinatorial geometries,” Bulletin of the AMS 3 (1980), 857–858.
Kelly, D. G. and Rota, G.-C, “Some problems in combinatorial geometry,” A. Survey of Combinatorial Theory, North Holland, 1973, 309–313.
Knuth, D. E., “The Asymptotic number of geometries,” J. Comb. Th. (A) 17 (1974), 398–401.
Las Vergnas, M., “Matroids orientables,” C. R. Acad. Sci. (Paris), 280A (1975), 61–64.
——, “Extensions normales d'un matroide, polynôme de Tutte d'un morphisme,” C. R. Acad. Sci. (Paris), 280 (1975), 1479–1482.
——, “Acyclic and totally cyclic orientations of combinatorial geometries,” Disc. Math., 20 (1977), 51–61.
——, “Sur les activités des orientations d'une geometrie combinatoire,” Collogue Mathématiques Discrètes: Codes et Hypergraphes, Bruxelles, 1978, 293–300.
——, “Eulerian circuits of 4-valent graphs imbedded in surfaces,” Colloquia Mathematica Societatis János Bolyai 25, Algebraic Methods in Graph Theory, Szeged (Hungary), 1978, 451–477.
Las Vergnas, M., “On Eulerian partitions of graphs,” Graph Theory and Combinatorics, R. J. Wilson (ed.), Research Notes in Math. 34, Pitman Advanced Publishing Program, 1979.
——, “On the Tutte polynomial of a morphism of matroids,” Proc. Joint Canada-France Combinatorial Colloquium, Montréal 1979, Annals Discrete Math. 8 (1980), 7–20.
Lindner, C. C. and Rosa, A., “Steiner quadruple systems a survey,” Discrete Math. 22:147–181 (1978).
Lindström, B., “On the chromatic number of regular matroids,” J. Comb. Theory (B) 24 (1978), 367–369.
Lucas, T. D., “Properties of rank preserving weak maps,” A.M.S. Bull. 80 (1974), 127–131.
——, “Weak maps of combinatorial geometries,” Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 206 (1975), 247–279.
Macwilliaras, F. J., “A Theorem on the distribution of weights in a systematic code,” Bell System Tech. J. 42 (1963), 79–94.
Martin, P., “Enumerations eulériennes dans les multigraphes et invariants de Tutte-Grothendieck,” Thesis, Grenoble, 1977.
——, “Remarkable valuation of the dichromatic polynomial of planar multigraphs,” J. Comb. Th. (B) 24 (1978), 318–324.
Mason, J., “Matroids: unimodal conjectures and Motzkin's theorem,” Combinatorics (Institute of Math. & Appl.) (D. J. A. Welsh and D. R. Woodall, eds., 1972), 207–221.
——, “Matroids as the study of geometrical configurations,” Higher Combinatorics, M. Aigner, ed., D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland, 1977, 133–176.
Minty, G. J., “On the axiomatic foundations of the theories of directed linear graphs, electrical networks and network programming,” Journ. Math. Mech. 15 (1966), 485–520.
Mullin, R. C. and Stanton, R. G., “A Covering problem in binary spaces of finite dimension,” Graph Theory and Related Topics (J. A. Bondy and U.S.R. Murty, eds.) Academic Press, New York, 1979.
Hurty, U.S.R., “Equicardinal matroids,” J. Comb. Th. 11 (1971), 120–126.
Nash-Williams, C. St. J.A., “An Application of matroids to graph theory,” Theory of Graphs International Symposium (Rome), Dunod (Paris) (1966), 263–265.
Oxley, J. G., “Colouring, packing and the critical problem,” Quart. J. Math. Oxford, (2), 29, 11–22.
——, “Cocircuit coverings and packings for binary matroids,” Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 83 (1978), 347–351.
——, “On cographic regular matroids,” Discrete Math. 25 (1979), 89–90.
——, “A Generalization of a covering problem of Mullin and Stanton for matroids,” Combinatorial Mathematics VI. Edited by A. F. Horadam and W. D. Wallis, Lecture Notes in Mathematics Vol. 748, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1979, 92–97.
——, “On a covering problem of Mullin and Stanton for binary matroids,” Aequationes Math. 19 (1979), 118, and 20 (1980), 104–112.
——, “On Crapo's beta invariant for matroids,” Studies in Appl. Math. (to appear).
——, “On a matroid identity” (preprint, 1981).
Oxley, J. G., Prendergast, K. and Row, D. H., “Matroids whose ground sets are domains of functions ” (to aopear, J Austral Math. Soc. (A).)
Oxley, J. G. and Welsh, D. J. A., “On some percolation results of J. M. Hammersley,” J. Appl. Probability 16 (1979), 526–540.
——, and ——, “The Tutte polynomial and percolation,” Graph Theory and Related Topics. Edited by J. A. Bondy and U.S.R. Murty, Academic Press, New York, San Francisco, London, 1979, 329–339.
Read, R. C, “An Introduction to chromatic polynomials,” J. Comb. Th., 4 (1968), 52–71.
Rota, G.-C, “On the foundations of combinatorial theory I,” Z. Wahrsch, 2 (1964), 340–368.
——, “Combinatorial analysis as a theory,” Hedrick Lectures, Math. Assoc, of Amer., Summer Meeting, Toronto, 1967.
——, “Combinatorial theory, old and new,“ Int. Cong. Math. (Nice) (1970) 3, 229–233.
Scafati Tallini, M., “{k,n}-archi di un piano grafico finito, con particolare riguardo a quelli con due caratteri, Nota I, II,” Rend. Acc. Naz. Lincei 40 (8) (1966), 812–818, 1020–1025.
——, “Calotte di tipo (m,n) in uno spazio di Galois sr,q,” Rend. Acc. Naz. Lincei 53(8) (1973), 71–81.
Segre, B., Lectures on Modern Geometry, Edizioni Creomonese, Roma, 1961.
Seymour, P. D., “On Tutte's extension of the four-colour problem ” (preprint, 1979).
——, “Decomposition of regular matroids,” J. Comb. Th. (B) 28 (1980), 305–359.
——, “Nowhere-zero 6-flows,” J. Comb. Th. (B) 30 (1981), 130–135.
Seymour, P. D. and Welsh, D. J. A., “Combinatorial applications of an inequality from statistical mechanics,” Math. Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc. 77 (1975), 485–497.
Shepherd, G. C., “Combinatorial properties of associated zonotopes,” Can. J. Math. 26 (1974), 302–321.
Smith, C. A. B., “Electric currents in regular matroids,” Combinatorics (Institute of Math. & Appl.) (D. J. A. Welsh & D. R. Woodall, eds., 1972), 262–285.
——, “Patroids,” J. Comb. Th. 16 (1974), 64–76.
Stanley, R., “Modular elements of geometric lattices,” Algebra Universalis, 1 (1971), 214–217.
——, “Supersolvable semimodular lattices,” Proc. Conference on Möbius Algebras, University of Waterloo, 1971, pp. 80–142.
——, “Supersolvable lattices,” Alg. Universalis 2 (1972), 197–217.
——, “Acyclic orientations of graphs,” Disc. Math. 5 (1974), 171–178.
Szekeres, G. and Wilf, H., “An Inequality for the chromatic number of a graph,” J. Comb. Th. 4 (1968), 1–3.
Tallini, G., “Problemi e risultati sulle geometrie di Galois,” Rel. N. 30, 1st. di Mat. dell' Univ. di Napoli (1973).
Tutte, W. T., “A Ring in graph theory,” Proc. Cambridge Phil Soc. 43 (1947), 26–40.
——, “A Contribution to the theory of chromatic polynomials,” Canad. J. Math. 6 (1954), 80–91.
——, “A Class of Abelian groups,” Canad. J. Math. 8 (1956), 13–28.
——, “Matroids and graphs,” Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 90 (1959), 527–552.
——, “Lectures on matroids,” J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. 69B (1965), 1–48.
——, “On the algebraic theory of graph coloring,” J. Comb. Th. 1 (1966), 15–50.
——, “On dichromatic polynomials,” J. Comb. Th. 2(1967), 301–320.
——, “Projective geometry and the 4-color problem,” Recent Progress in Combinatorics (W. T. Tutte, ed.) Academic Press 1969, 199–207.
——, “Codichromatic graphs,” J. Comb. Th. 16 (1974), 168–175.
——, “All the king's men (a guide to reconstruction),” Graph Theory and Related Topics, Academic Press, 1979, 15–33.
Van Lint, J. H., Coding Theory, Springer Lecture Notes, 201, (1971).
Walton, P. N. and Welsh, D. J. A., “On the chromatic number of binary matroids,” Mathematika 27 (1980), 1–9.
Welsh, D. J. A., “Euler and bipartite matroids,” J. Comb. Th. 6 (1969), 375–377.
——, “Combinatorial problems in matroid theory,” Combinatorial Mathematics and its Applications, Academic Press, (1971), 291–307.
——, Matroid Theory, Academic Press, London, 1976.
——, “Percolation and related topoics,” Science Progress 64 (1977).
——, “Colouring problems and matroids,“ Proc. Seventh British Combinatorial Conference, Cambridge U. Press (1979), 229–257.
Welsh, D. J. A., “Colourings, flows and projective geometry,” Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde (3), 28 (1980), 159–176.
White, N., “The Critical problem and coding theory,” Research Paper, SPS-66 Vol. III, Section 331, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. (1972).
Whitney, H., “A Logical expansion in mathematics,” Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 38 (1932), 572–579.
——, “The Coloring of graphs,” Annals of Math. 33 (1932), 688–718.
——, “2-isomorphic graphs,” Amer. J. Math. 55 (1933), 245–254.
——, “On the abstract properties of linear dependence,” Amer. J. Math. 57 (1935), 509–533.
Wilf, H. S., “Which polynomials are chromatic?” Atti dei Convegni Lincei 17, Tomo 1 (1976), 247–256.
Winder, R. O., “Partitions of n-space by hyperplanes,” SlAM J. Appl. Math. 14 (1966), 811–818.
Young, P. and Edmonds, J., “Matroid designs,” J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stan. 72B (1972), 15–44.
Zaslavsky, T., “Facing up to arrangements: face count formulas for partitions of space by hyperplanes,” Memoirs Amer. Math. Soc. 154 (1975).
——, “Counting faces of cut-up spaces,“ Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 81 (1975), 916–918.
——, “Maximal dissections of a simplex,” J. Comb. Th. (A) 20 (1976), 244–257.
——, “The Möbius function and the characteristic polynomial” (preprint: chapter for Combinatorial Geometries, H. Crapo, G.-C. Rota, and N. White eds.).
——, “Arrangements of hyperplanes; matroids and graphs,” Proc. Tenth S.E. Conf. on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing (Boca Raton, 1979), Vol. II, 895–911, Utilitas Math. Publ. Co., Winnipeg, Man., 1979.
——, “The Geometry of root systems and signed graphs,” Amer. Math. Monthly, 88 (1981), 88–105.
Zaslavsky, T., “Signed graphs” (preprint, 1980).
——, “Orientation of signed graphs” (preprint, 1980).
——, “Signed graph coloring” (preprint, 1980).
——, “Chromatic invariants of signed graphs” (preprint, 1980).
——, “Bicircular geometry and the lattice of forest of a graph” (preprint, 1980).
——, “The slimmest arrangements of hyperplanes: I. Geometric lattices and projective arrangements” (preprint, 1980).
——, “The slimmest arrangements of hyperplanes: II. Basepointed geometric lattices and Euclidean arrangements (preprint, 1980).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brylawski, T. (2010). The Tutte Polynomial Part I: General Theory. In: Barlotti, A. (eds) Matroid Theory and its Applications. C.I.M.E. Summer Schools, vol 83. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11110-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11110-5_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11109-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11110-5
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)