Catalan numbers are numbers that fall into that branch of mathematics referred to as combinatorics, or numbers that create a pattern of some type. In a more general sense, Catalan numbers can be considered as a major topic in number theory.

Although the pace of this book is of an introductory nature, the coverage of Catalan numbers is rigorous and will provide the reader with a firm grasp of many of the properties of these numbers.

After an introduction, the author proceeds with coverage of Dyck words, which leads into a chapter on the basic properties of Catalan numbers. The remaining six chapters discuss Catalan numbers and their relationship to monotone paths, trees, geometric widgets, algebraic widgets, interval structures, partitions, permutations, and semi-orders.

Obviously, this is not a coffee table book unless your guests are Fields Medalists. It is, however, a scholarly work and one that number theorists will find well worth reading.