Carl D. Meyer

Amy N. Langville

"Who's #1? offers an engaging and accessible account of how scientific rating and ranking methods are created and applied to a variety of uses. Amy Langville and Carl Meyer provide the first comprehensive overview of the mathematical algorithms and methods used to rate and rank sports teams, political candidates, products, Web pages, and more. In a series of interesting asides, Langville and Meyer provide fascinating insights into the ingenious contributions of many of the field's pioneers. They survey and compare the different methods employed today, showing why their strengths and weaknesses depend on the underlying goal, and explaining why and when a given method should be considered. Also describe what can and can't be expected from the most widely used systems"--

The Science of Rating and Ranking

Who's #1?

This second edition has been almost completely rewritten to create a textbook designed so instructors can determine the degree of rigor and flexible enough for a one- or two-semester course. The author achieves this by increasing the level of sophistication as the text proceeds from traditional first principles in the early chapters to theory and applications in the later ones, and by ensuring that material at any point is not dependent on subsequent developments. While theorems and proofs are highlighted, the emphasis is on applications. The author provides carefully constructed exercises ranging from easy to moderately challenging to difficult, many of which condition students for topics that follow. An accompanying book, Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra, Second Edition, Study and Solutions Guide, contains complete solutions and discussions of each exercise; and historical remarks that focus on the personalities of the individuals who created and contributed to the subject's development. This book is designed for use in either a one- or two-term linear algebra course. It can also serve as a reference to anyone who needs to use or apply linear algebra.

Second Edition

Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra

Stephen L. Campbell

Generalized (or pseudo-) inverse concepts routinely appear throughout applied mathematics and engineering, in both research literature and textbooks. Although the basic properties are readily available, some of the more subtle aspects and difficult details of the subject are not well documented or understood. First published in 1979, Generalized Inverses of Linear Transformations remains up-to-date and readable, and it includes chapters on Markov chains and the Drazin inverse methods that have become significant to many problems in applied mathematics. The book provides comprehensive coverage of the mathematical theory of generalized inverses coupled with a wide range of important and practical applications that includes topics in electrical and computer engineering, control and optimization, computing and numerical analysis, statistical estimation, and stochastic processes. Audience: intended for use as a reference by applied scientists and engineers.

Generalized Inverses of Linear Transformations

The Science of Search Engine Rankings

Google's PageRank and Beyond

Why doesn't your home page appear on the first page of search results, even when you query your own name? How do other web pages always appear at the top? What creates these powerful rankings? And how? The first book ever about the science of web page rankings, Google's PageRank and Beyond supplies the answers to these and other questions and more. The book serves two very different audiences: the curious science reader and the technical computational reader. The chapters build in mathematical sophistication, so that the first five are accessible to the general academic reader. While other chapters are much more mathematical in nature, each one contains something for both audiences. For example, the authors include entertaining asides such as how search engines make money and how the Great Firewall of China influences research. The book includes an extensive background chapter designed to help readers learn more about the mathematics of search engines, and it contains several MATLAB codes and links to sample web data sets. The philosophy throughout is to encourage readers to experiment with the ideas and algorithms in the text. Any business seriously interested in improving its rankings in the major search engines can benefit from the clear examples, sample code, and list of resources provided. Many illustrative examples and entertaining asides MATLAB code Accessible and informal style Complete and self-contained section for mathematics review

Robert J. Plemmons

This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications LINEAR ALGEBRA, MARKOV CHAINS, AND QUEUEING MODELS is based on the proceedings of a workshop which was an integral part of the 1991-92 IMA program on "Applied Linear Algebra". We thank Carl Meyer and R.J. Plemmons for editing the proceedings. We also take this opportunity to thank the National Science Founda tion, whose financial support made the workshop possible. A vner Friedman Willard Miller, Jr. xi PREFACE This volume contains some of the lectures given at the workshop Lin ear Algebra, Markov Chains, and Queueing Models held January 13-17, 1992, as part of the Year of Applied Linear Algebra at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications. Markov chains and queueing models play an increasingly important role in the understanding of complex systems such as computer, communi cation, and transportation systems. Linear algebra is an indispensable tool in such research, and this volume collects a selection of important papers in this area. The articles contained herein are representative of the underlying purpose of the workshop, which was to bring together practitioners and re searchers from the areas of linear algebra, numerical analysis, and queueing theory who share a common interest of analyzing and solving finite state Markov chains. The papers in this volume are grouped into three major categories-perturbation theory and error analysis, iterative methods, and applications regarding queueing models.

Linear Algebra, Markov Chains, and Queueing Models

Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra is an honest math text that circumvents the traditional definition-theorem-proof format that has bored students in the past. Meyer uses a fresh approach to introduce a variety of problems and examples ranging from the elementary to the challenging and from simple applications to discovery problems. The focus on applications is a big difference between this book and others. Meyer's book is more rigorous and goes into more depth than some. He includes some of the more contemporary topics of applied linear algebra which are not normally found in undergraduate textbooks. Modern concepts and notation are used to introduce the various aspects of linear equations, leading readers easily to numerical computations and applications. The theoretical developments are always accompanied with examples, which are worked out in detail. Each section ends with a large number of carefully chosen exercises from which the students can gain further insight.

Carl D. Meyer

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