George E. Andrews 80 Years of Combinatory Analysis

Book excerpt: This book presents a printed testimony for the fact that George Andrews, one of the world’s leading experts in partitions and q-series for the last several decades, has passed the milestone age of 80. To honor George Andrews on this occasion, the conference “Combinatory Analysis 2018” was organized at the Pennsylvania State University from June 21 to 24, 2018. This volume comprises the original articles from the Special Issue “Combinatory Analysis 2018 – In Honor of George Andrews’ 80th Birthday” resulting from the conference and published in Annals of Combinatorics. In addition to the 37 articles of the Andrews 80 Special Issue, the book includes two new papers. These research contributions explore new grounds and present new achievements, research trends, and problems in the area. The volume is complemented by three special personal contributions: “The Worlds of George Andrews, a daughter’s take” by Amy Alznauer, “My association and collaboration with George Andrews” by Krishna Alladi, and “Ramanujan, his Lost Notebook, its importance” by Bruce Berndt. Another aspect which gives this Andrews volume a truly unique character is the “Photos” collection. In addition to pictures taken at “Combinatory Analysis 2018”, the editors selected a variety of photos, many of them not available elsewhere: “Andrews in Austria”, “Andrews in China”, “Andrews in Florida”, “Andrews in Illinois”, and “Andrews in India”. This volume will be of interest to researchers, PhD students, and interested practitioners working in the area of Combinatory Analysis, q-Series, and related fields.