The Symmetric Group. Representations, Combinatorial Algorithms, and Symmetric Functions, 2nd edition

This text is an introduction to the representation theory of the symmetric group from three different points of view: via general representation theory, via combinatorial algorithms, and via symmetric functions. It is the only book to deal with all three aspects of this subject at once. The style of presentation is relaxed yet rigorous, and the prerequisites have been kept to a minimum: undergraduate courses in linear algebra and group theory will suffice. And this is a very active area of current research, so the text will appeal to graduate students and mathematicians in other specialties interested in finding out about this field. On the other hand, a number of the combinatorial results presented have never appeared in book form before, and so the volume will serve as a good reference for researchers already working in this area. Among these results are Haimans theory of dual equivalence and the beautiful Novelli-Pak-Stoyanovskii proof of the hook formula (the latter being new to the second edition). In addition, there is a new chapter on applications of materials from the first edition.