====== Study Seminar on Matroid Theory ======

===== FALL 2012 =====

[[http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/|Best Viewed With Any Browser]]

Organizers: [[laura/|Laura Anderson]] and [[zaslav/|Thomas Zaslavsky]].

Meetings on Wednesdays, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., in LN-2206.

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All are invited. This will be a very elementary introduction to the basics of matroids, based on James Oxley, Matroid Theory, second edition. Zaslavsky hopes to teach a course on matroid theory in the spring; this could be (optional) preparation for it.


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**Wednesday, September 5**\\
Jackie Kaminski\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 1: Definitions by independent sets and by circuits. The main examples (1): Vector matroids.

**Wednesday, September 12**\\
Jackie Kaminski\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 1: The main examples (2): Graphic matroids.\\
Simon Joyce\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 2: Definition by bases.

**Wednesday, September 19**\\
Simon Joyce\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 2: Definition by bases.

**Wednesday, October 3**\\
Kaitlin Reissig\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 3: Definition by and properties of rank.

**Wednesday, October 10**\\
Alex Schaefer\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 4: Definition by and properties of closure.

**Wednesday, October 17**\\
Alex Schaefer\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 4: Properties of closure.

**Wednesday, October 24**\\
Tom Zaslavsky\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 5: Small examples and geometrical drawings. (Emphasis on affine representation and on projective and affine geometries over tiny fields.)

**Wednesday, October 31**\\
Jackie Kaminski\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 7: The lattice of flats.

**Wednesday, November 7**\\
Jackie Kaminski\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 7: The lattice of flats: more!

**Wednesday, November 14**\\
Tom Zaslavsky\\
Why matroids? Or, what is matroid theory about? (With a quick explanation of orthogonal duality of vector configurations vis-á-vis matroid duality.)

**Wednesday, November 21**\\
(Thanksgiving holiday)

**Wednesday, November 28**\\
Simon Lepkin\\
Ch. 1, Sect. 6: The main examples (3): Transversal matroids.

**Wednesday, December 5**\\
Craig DeFelice\\
Ch. 2, Sect. 1, first half: Duality (part 1).

**Wednesday, December 12**\\
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Ch. 2, Sect. 1, second half: Duality (part 2).\\
Ch. 2, Sect. 2: Duality (part 3).


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[[http://www.math.binghamton.edu/|Departmental home page]].


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