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Path enumeration in planar networks
Student-Run Discrete Mathematics| Speaker: | Kelli Talaska, UC Berkeley |
| Location: | 2112 MSB |
| Start time: | Fri, Nov 12 2010, 11:00AM |
Description
The main goal of this expository talk is to introduce the audience to
the statement and very elegant proof of a classical result relating
determinants to path enumeration in weighted acyclic planar graphs
(due to, in various forms, Karlin-McGregor, Lindstrom, and
Gessel-Viennot). If time allows, we will also say a bit about
extensions to graphs which are not necessarily planar or acyclic,
and/or applications of the theorem, such as the Jacobi-Trudy
determinantal formulas for Schur polynomials.