This 1994 text covers finite linear spaces. It contains all the important results that had been published up to the time of publication, and is designed to be used not only as a resource for researchers in this and related areas, but also as a graduate-level text. In eight chapters the authors introduce and review fundamental results, and go on to cover the major areas of interest in linear spaces. A combinatorial approach is used for the greater part of the book, but in the final chapter recent advances in group theory relating to finite linear spaces are presented. At the end of each chapter there is a set of exercises which are designed to test comprehension of the material, and there is also a section of problems for researchers. It will be an invaluable book for researchers in geometry and combinatorics as well as forming an excellent text for graduate students.
This book is an introductory text on the combinatorial theory of finite geometry. It assumes only a basic knowledge of set theory and analysis, but soon leads the student to results at the frontiers of research. It begins with an elementary combinatorial approach to finite geometries based on finite sets of points and lines, and moves into the classical work on affine and projective planes. The next part deals with polar spaces, partial geometries, and generalised quadrangles. The revised edition contains an entirely new chapter on blocking sets in linear spaces, which highlights some of the most important applications of blocking sets from the initial game-theoretic setting to their recent use in cryptography. Extensive exercises at the end of each chapter ensure the usefulness of this book for senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students.
This 1994 text covers finite linear spaces. It contains all the important results that had been published up to the time of publication, and is designed to be used not only as a resource for researchers in this and related areas, but also as a graduate-level text. In eight chapters the authors introduce and review fundamental results, and go on to cover the major areas of interest in linear spaces. A combinatorial approach is used for the greater part of the book, but in the final chapter recent advances in group theory relating to finite linear spaces are presented. At the end of each chapter there is a set of exercises which are designed to test comprehension of the material, and there is also a section of problems for researchers. It will be an invaluable book for researchers in geometry and combinatorics as well as forming an excellent text for graduate students.
This book is an introductory text on the combinatorial theory of finite geometry. It assumes only a basic knowledge of set theory and analysis, but soon leads the student to results at the frontiers of research. It begins with an elementary combinatorial approach to finite geometries based on finite sets of points and lines, and moves into the classical work on affine and projective planes. The next part deals with polar spaces, partial geometries, and generalised quadrangles. The revised edition contains an entirely new chapter on blocking sets in linear spaces, which highlights some of the most important applications of blocking sets from the initial game-theoretic setting to their recent use in cryptography. Extensive exercises at the end of each chapter ensure the usefulness of this book for senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students.
