Abstract
THOSE who, like the present writer, have been privileged to hear Major MacMahon give an account of his methods of solving the problems of which the well-known Latin Square is typical—problems of interest to many who are not professed mathematicians—have been waiting for this treatise with eagerness. Volume i. has now appeared, and it amply fulfils the expectations which have been formed. If we may quote from the preface, the object of the work is to present to mathematicians an account of theorems in combinatory analysis which are of a perfectly general character, and to show their connection as parts of a general doctrine. The modesty of the author forbids him to mention that the greater part of the work is his own, as well as most of the important theorems which are treated. It is fair to say that Major MacMahon has developed a new line of mathematical work, and that many of the main theorems, rescued here for the first time from the author's papers in scientific periodicals, must form an essential part of text-books on higher algebra in the future.
Combinatory Analysis.
By Major Percy A. MacMahon. Vol. i., pp. 300. (Cambridge: At the University Press.) Price 15s. net.
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Combinatory Analysis . Nature 96, 478 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/096478a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/096478a0