Report on the present state of combinatorics (Q1917532)

This is the inaugural address delivered at the 5th Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics conference in Florence, June, 1993. Accordingly, this survey is limited, in most part, to algebraic combinatorics. It differs from the usual survey in that no compendium of references is appended (but the names are there). Rather, the focus is on relations between algebraic combinatorics and abstract algebra, patterns of development in graph theory due specifically to Robertson and Seymour, and relations between combinatorics and probability. Also discussed are the make-up of present day invariant theory, species and bijective combinatorics, and the theory of special functions. So this should be read for one's cultural enhancement rather than for extracting specifics with respect to journals and dates.