This book is the first of a two-volume basic introduction to enumerative combinatorics at a level suitable for graduate students and research mathematicians. It concentrates on the theory and application of generating functions, a fundamental tool in enumerative combinatorics. The book covers those parts of enumerative combinatorics of greatest applicability to other areas of mathematics. The four chapters are devoted to an introduction to enumeration (suitable for advanced undergraduates), sieve methods (including the Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion), partially ordered sets, and rational generating functions. There are a large number of exercises, almost all with solutions, which greatly augment the text and provide entry into many areas not covered directly. Graduate students and research mathematicians who wish to apply combinatorics to their work will find this an authoritative reference.

An effort has been made to present the various topics in the theory of graphs in a logical order, to indicate the historical background, and to clarify the exposition by including figures to illustrate concepts and results. In addition, there are three appendices which provide diagrams of graphs, directed graphs, and trees. The emphasis throughout is on theorems rather than algorithms or applications, which however are occaisionally mentioned.

《组合数学》(原书第4版)侧重于组合数学的概念和思想，包括鸽巢原理、计数技术、排列组合、Polya计数法、二项式系数、容斥原理、生成函数和递推关系以及组合结构(匹配、实验设计、图)等，深入浅出地表达了作者对该领域全面和深刻的理解，介绍了历史上源于数学游戏和娱乐的大量实例，其中对Polya计数、Burnside定理等的完美处理使得不熟悉群论的学生也能够读懂。除包含第3版中的内容外，本版又进行了更新，增加了莫比乌斯反演(作为容斥原理的推广)、格路径、Schroder数等内容。此外，各章均包含大量练习题，并在书末给出了参考答案与提示。