Combinatorics, Week 1
January 25, 2017

For this introductory meeting, I lectured on my paper with Persi Diaconis on card shuffling, and I then introduced Catalan numbers.

The following link to the MathSciNet review of our paper works from within Columbia and Barnard internet service. From outside, one can access MathSciNet by logging in, then search for authors Bayer and Diaconis: MathSciNet

• 1992 Bayer, Diaconis - Trailing the dovetail shuffle to its lair

The article itself can be retrieved through this review; it is also widely available online, along with many related resources. Search using the title:

• Google search

Chapter 30 Shuffling cards (pp 205-214) is a related exploration of card shuffling:

• 2010 Aigner, Ziegler - Proofs from The Book

This Wikipedia page is a good introduction to Catalan numbers:

• Catalan number