Xiaodong Hu

Analytic combinatorics is a term introduced recently by Flajolet and Sedgewick which refers to the use of analytic methods in the study of large combinatorial structures. In this talk we review some commonly used analytic methods in deriving asymptotic expressions for the number of combinatorial objects and analyzing the distributions of certain parameters associated with a large random combinatorial structure. Some specific combinatorial structures such as trees, permutations, and polynomials over finite fields will be used to illustrate the basic ideas.