18.226 | Fall 2020 | Graduate

Probabilistic Method in Combinatorics

Course Description

This course is a graduate-level introduction to the probabilistic method, a fundamental and powerful technique in combinatorics and theoretical computer science. The essence of the approach is to show that some combinatorial object exists and prove that a certain random construction works with positive probability. The …

This course is a graduate-level introduction to the probabilistic method, a fundamental and powerful technique in combinatorics and theoretical computer science. The essence of the approach is to show that some combinatorial object exists and prove that a certain random construction works with positive probability. The course focuses on methodology as well as combinatorial applications.

This course was previously numbered 18.218.

Learning Resource Types
Instructor Insights
Lecture Notes
Problem Sets
Photo of a man wearing glasses.
Photo of Paul Erdős, a renowned Hungarian mathematician and the founder of the probabilistic method. (Image courtesy of Kmhkmh. Source: Wikimedia Commons. License CC BY.)