Hypergraphs: Combinatorics of Finite Sets

Graph Theory has proved to be an extremely useful tool for solving combinatorial problems in such diverse areas as Geometry, Algebra, Number Theory, Topology, Operations Research and Optimization. It is natural to attempt to generalise the concept of a graph, in order to attack additional combinatorial problems. The idea of looking at a family of sets from this standpoint took shape around 1960. In regarding each set as a ''generalised edge'' and in calling the family itself a ''hypergraph'', th…