JournalsemVol. 71, No. 2pp. 57–68

Hurwitz’s counting isomers of alkanes

  • Holger Helmstetter

    Würzburg, Germany

  • Nicola M.R. Oswald

    Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany
Hurwitz’s counting isomers of alkanes cover
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Abstract

In a late entry in his mathematical diary from 1918 Adolf Hurwitz refined ideas due to Arthur Cayley in order to count trees of specific structure (namely isomers of alkanes). We shall analyze his reasoning in detail and discuss it in context with Cayley's original approach and George Pólya's later enumeration method.

Cite this article

Holger Helmstetter, Nicola M.R. Oswald, Hurwitz’s counting isomers of alkanes. Elem. Math. 71 (2016), no. 2, pp. 57–68

DOI 10.4171/EM/300