Quadratic forms. Combinatorics and numerical results (Q1755460)

This is a monograph collecting and presenting combinatorial results on integral quadratic forms. Most of them are originally obtained in the context of representation theory of algebras. Chapter 1 reviews classical binary integral forms and quadratic forms over the real numbers. In Chapters 2 and 3, the concepts of positivity and nonnegativity of integral quadratic forms are studied; in Chapters 5 and 6, weak versions of these notions are considered, especially unit forms and semi-unit forms. In Chapter 4, analogous results for ``conceacled'' integral quadratic forms are presented and some group theoretical and spectral properties of such forms are discussed. Many results are connected with Dynkin diagrams and their groups of reflections. The book presents many results extracted from research papers from 1970 up to now. The prerequisite is only some basic linear algebra. Some details and further results are given as exercises. This monograph is a welcome addition to the current literature.