How combinatoric analysis has become known as "Hungarian mathematics"?

Katona, Gyula

There are some areas in mathematics where Hungarians take the lead among international researchers. The predecessors and successors of Pál Erdős have essentially turned combinatorics into a "Hungarian field of science". The discipline was originally based on entertainment, on the solving of puzzle-like problems. Ever since computers appeared, combinatorics has been considered one of the basics of computing science. This is why it has undergone an explosive form of development. In addition, combinatorics enjoys the advantage of being presentable to the public in a relatively easy manner. The lecture covers the most significant results occurring in Hungarian combinatorics over the past 40 years, ones that are easy to demonstrate without resorting to complex formulae. Dr. Katona gives an overview of the concept of random graphs as developed by Pál Erdős and Alfréd Rényi along with the "world of shadows" of sets, and also tells us what the so-called "Erdős number" is good for and why the 1883 Nürnberger-Turnier chess tournament had to be postponed.

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