Student Combinatorics Seminar

Finding bases for algebras defined by generators and relations is a difficult task. However, George Bergman introduced a technique based on the classical Diamond Lemma (originally due to Max Newman) to prove nice bases exist for certain algebras. The talk will be a basic introduction to the Diamond Lemma with some applications to combinatorics. Time permitting, I shall also give an overview of Bergman's version of the Diamond Lemma by using the Poincare-Birkhoff-Witt theorem as a guiding example. Speaker(s): Karthik Ganapathy (University of Michigan)