STIRLING NUMBERS

Abstract

This monograph is based on a set of notes taken from lectures on combinatorics given by Professor Gian-Carlo Rota at thl Massachusetss Institute of Te~hnology in 19690 It is indeed a pleasure to finally gather this material under one cover-not so much for the originality of the results as for the Originality of the methodology. Professor Rota's constructivist approach enabled me to formulate a general modus operand:!. which may, indeed, serve combina­ torics in a far broader sense' than is offered hereo It is all the more fitting that this material be issued through a Computer Science Department J as our methods of abs1l;Y'8ct reasoning are much more akin to those of the computer programmer than to the traditional "Sa~~ Beweis" style of classical mathemat'1cso Such methods may, hopefully one day extend beyond combinator-ics to other areas of mathematics