Probabilistic Methods in Combinatorics

This course is a graduate-level introduction to the probabilistic methods, a fundamental and powerful technique in combinatorics and theoretical computer science. The essence of the approach is to show that some combinatorial object exists and prove that a certain random construction works with positive probability. The course focuses on methodology as well as combinatorial applications.

The syllabus, on MIT OpenCourseWare

The full course — syllabus, assigned readings, problem sets, exams, and lecture notes — lives on OCW. These open the real thing: