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Ménage Problem
In combinatorial mathematics, the ménage problem or problème des ménages asks for the number of different ways in which it is possible to seat a set of male-female couples at a round dining table so that men and women alternate and nobody sits next to his or her partner. This problem was formulated in 1891 by Édouard Lucas and independently, a few years earlier, by Peter Guthrie Tait in connection with knot theory. For a number of couples equal to 3, 4, 5, ... the number of seating arrangements is :12, 96, 3120, 115200, 5836320, 382072320, 31488549120, ... . Mathematicians have developed formulas and recurrence equations for computing these numbers and related sequences of numbers. Along with their applications to etiquette and knot theory, these numbers also have a graph theoretic interpretation: they count the numbers of matchings and Hamiltonian cycles in certain families of graphs. Touchard's formula Let ''M''''n'' denote the number of seating arrangements for ''n'' cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wedding Banquet Setting
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vows by a couple, presentation of a gift (offering, rings, symbolic item, flowers, money, dress), and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or celebrant. Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers, or readings from religious texts or literature are also commonly incorporated into the ceremony, as well as superstitious customs. Common elements across cultures Some cultures have adopted the traditional Western custom of the white wedding, in which a bride wears a white wedding dress and veil. This tradition was popularized through the marriage of Queen Victoria. Some say Victoria's choice of a white gown may have simply been a sign of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Directed Graph
In mathematics, and more specifically in graph theory, a directed graph (or digraph) is a graph that is made up of a set of vertices connected by directed edges, often called arcs. Definition In formal terms, a directed graph is an ordered pair where * ''V'' is a set whose elements are called '' vertices'', ''nodes'', or ''points''; * ''A'' is a set of ordered pairs of vertices, called ''arcs'', ''directed edges'' (sometimes simply ''edges'' with the corresponding set named ''E'' instead of ''A''), ''arrows'', or ''directed lines''. It differs from an ordinary or undirected graph, in that the latter is defined in terms of unordered pairs of vertices, which are usually called ''edges'', ''links'' or ''lines''. The aforementioned definition does not allow a directed graph to have multiple arrows with the same source and target nodes, but some authors consider a broader definition that allows directed graphs to have such multiple arcs (namely, they allow the arc set to be a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oberwolfach Problem
The Oberwolfach problem is an unsolved problem in mathematics that may be formulated either as a problem of scheduling seating assignments for diners, or more abstractly as a problem in graph theory, on the edge cycle covers of complete graphs. It is named after the Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics, where the problem was posed in 1967 by Gerhard Ringel. It is known to be true for all sufficiently-large complete graphs. Formulation In conferences held at Oberwolfach, it is the custom for the participants to dine together in a room with circular tables, not all the same size, and with assigned seating that rearranges the participants from meal to meal. The Oberwolfach problem asks how to make a seating chart for a given set of tables so that all tables are full at each meal and all pairs of conference participants are seated next to each other exactly once. An instance of the problem can be denoted as OP(x,y,z,\dots) where x,y,z,\dots are the given table sizes. Alter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclic Permutation
In mathematics, and in particular in group theory, a cyclic permutation (or cycle) is a permutation of the elements of some set ''X'' which maps the elements of some subset ''S'' of ''X'' to each other in a cyclic fashion, while fixing (that is, mapping to themselves) all other elements of ''X''. If ''S'' has ''k'' elements, the cycle is called a ''k''-cycle. Cycles are often denoted by the list of their elements enclosed with parentheses, in the order to which they are permuted. For example, given ''X'' = , the permutation (1, 3, 2, 4) that sends 1 to 3, 3 to 2, 2 to 4 and 4 to 1 (so ''S'' = ''X'') is a 4-cycle, and the permutation (1, 3, 2) that sends 1 to 3, 3 to 2, 2 to 1 and 4 to 4 (so ''S'' = and 4 is a fixed element) is a 3-cycle. On the other hand, the permutation that sends 1 to 3, 3 to 1, 2 to 4 and 4 to 2 is not a cyclic permutation because it separately permutes the pairs and . The set ''S'' is called the orbit of the cycle. Every permutation on finitely many elemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternating Knot
In knot theory, a knot or link diagram is alternating if the crossings alternate under, over, under, over, as one travels along each component of the link. A link is alternating if it has an alternating diagram. Many of the knots with crossing number less than 10 are alternating. This fact and useful properties of alternating knots, such as the Tait conjectures, was what enabled early knot tabulators, such as Tait, to construct tables with relatively few mistakes or omissions. The simplest non-alternating prime knots have 8 crossings (and there are three such: 819, 820, 821). It is conjectured that as the crossing number increases, the percentage of knots that are alternating goes to 0 exponentially quickly. Alternating links end up having an important role in knot theory and 3-manifold theory, due to their complements having useful and interesting geometric and topological properties. This led Ralph Fox to ask, "What is an alternating knot?" By this he was asking what non-diag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dowker Notation
Dowker is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Clifford Hugh Dowker (1912–1982), Canadian mathematician * Fay Dowker (born 1965), British physicist *Felicity Dowker, Australian fantasy writer * Hasted Dowker (1900–1986), Canadian Anglican priest *Ray Dowker (1919–2004), New Zealand cricketer * Yael Dowker (1919–2016), Israeli-English mathematician See also *Dowker Island, is an uninhabited island in Lake Saint Louis, a widening of the Saint Lawrence River south of Montreal Island, Quebec * Dowker notation, is mathematical notation *Dowker space In the mathematical field of general topology, a Dowker space is a topological space that is T4 but not countably paracompact. They are named after Clifford Hugh Dowker. The non-trivial task of providing an example of a Dowker space (and therefor ..., is mathematical field of general topology * The Haunting of Hewie Dowker, is an Australian film {{Surname ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crossing Number (knot Theory)
In the mathematical area of knot theory, the crossing number of a knot is the smallest number of crossings of any diagram of the knot. It is a knot invariant. Examples By way of example, the unknot has crossing number zero, the trefoil knot three and the figure-eight knot four. There are no other knots with a crossing number this low, and just two knots have crossing number five, but the number of knots with a particular crossing number increases rapidly as the crossing number increases. Tabulation Tables of prime knots are traditionally indexed by crossing number, with a subscript to indicate which particular knot out of those with this many crossings is meant (this sub-ordering is not based on anything in particular, except that torus knots then twist knots are listed first). The listing goes 31 (the trefoil knot), 41 (the figure-eight knot), 51, 52, 61, etc. This order has not changed significantly since P. G. Tait published a tabulation of knots in 1877. Additivity There ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knot (mathematics)
In mathematics, a knot is an embedding of the circle into three-dimensional Euclidean space, (also known as ). Often two knots are considered equivalent if they are ambient isotopic, that is, if there exists a continuous deformation of which takes one knot to the other. A crucial difference between the standard mathematical and conventional notions of a knot is that mathematical knots are closed — there are no ends to tie or untie on a mathematical knot. Physical properties such as friction and thickness also do not apply, although there are mathematical definitions of a knot that take such properties into account. The term ''knot'' is also applied to embeddings of in , especially in the case . The branch of mathematics that studies knots is known as knot theory and has many relations to graph theory. Formal definition A knot is an embedding of the circle () into three-dimensional Euclidean space (), or the 3-sphere (), since the 3-sphere is compact. Two knots are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circulant Matrix
In linear algebra, a circulant matrix is a square matrix in which all row vectors are composed of the same elements and each row vector is rotated one element to the right relative to the preceding row vector. It is a particular kind of Toeplitz matrix. In numerical analysis, circulant matrices are important because they are diagonalized by a discrete Fourier transform, and hence linear equations that contain them may be quickly solved using a fast Fourier transform. They can be interpreted analytically as the integral kernel of a convolution operator on the cyclic group C_n and hence frequently appear in formal descriptions of spatially invariant linear operations. This property is also critical in modern software defined radios, which utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing to spread the symbols (bits) using a cyclic prefix. This enables the channel to be represented by a circulant matrix, simplifying channel equalization in the frequency domain. In cryptograp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matrix (mathematics)
In mathematics, a matrix (plural matrices) is a rectangular array or table of numbers, symbols, or expressions, arranged in rows and columns, which is used to represent a mathematical object or a property of such an object. For example, \begin1 & 9 & -13 \\20 & 5 & -6 \end is a matrix with two rows and three columns. This is often referred to as a "two by three matrix", a "-matrix", or a matrix of dimension . Without further specifications, matrices represent linear maps, and allow explicit computations in linear algebra. Therefore, the study of matrices is a large part of linear algebra, and most properties and operations of abstract linear algebra can be expressed in terms of matrices. For example, matrix multiplication represents composition of linear maps. Not all matrices are related to linear algebra. This is, in particular, the case in graph theory, of incidence matrices, and adjacency matrices. ''This article focuses on matrices related to linear algebra, and, unle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permanent (mathematics)
In linear algebra, the permanent of a square matrix is a function of the matrix similar to the determinant. The permanent, as well as the determinant, is a polynomial in the entries of the matrix. Both are special cases of a more general function of a matrix called the immanant. Definition The permanent of an matrix is defined as \operatorname(A)=\sum_\prod_^n a_. The sum here extends over all elements σ of the symmetric group ''S''''n''; i.e. over all permutations of the numbers 1, 2, ..., ''n''. For example, \operatorname\begina&b \\ c&d\end=ad+bc, and \operatorname\begina&b&c \\ d&e&f \\ g&h&i \end=aei + bfg + cdh + ceg + bdi + afh. The definition of the permanent of ''A'' differs from that of the determinant of ''A'' in that the signatures of the permutations are not taken into account. The permanent of a matrix A is denoted per ''A'', perm ''A'', or Per ''A'', sometimes with parentheses around the argument. Minc uses Per(''A'') for the permanent of rectangular mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic creatures. It is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre. The artist John Tenniel provided 42 wood-engraved illustrations for the book. It received positive reviews upon release and is now one of the best-known works of Victorian literature; its narrative, structure, characters and imagery have had widespread influence on popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre. It is credited as helping end an era of didacticism in children's literature, inaugurating a new era in which writing for children aimed to "delight or entertain". The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. The titular character Alice shar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
