The Use of S-Functions in Combinatorial Analysis

The aim of this paper is to present a unified treatment of certain theorems in Combinatorial Analysis (particularly in enumerative graph theory), and their relations to various results concerning symmetric functions and the characters of the symmetric groups. In particular, it treats of the simplification that is achieved by working with S-functions in preference to other symmetric functions when dealing with combinatorial problems. In this way it helps to draw closer together the two subjects of Combinatorial Analysis and the theory of Finite Groups. The paper is mainly expository; it contains little that is really new, though it displays several old results in a new setting.