Matroid Theory Assignments
Fall 2026

This page will be updated gradually.

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Readings and Problems

The readings are from James Oxley, Matroid Theory, second edition, Oxford University Press, 2011.

Readings

Read these lightly first, then carefully.
Read and think about the recommended problems and hand-in problems.
Hand in the specified problems; I accept partial solutions and I don't expect you to answer every single one.
Extra problems, like definitions and explanations, are on a separate page.
There are occasional errors (big-ish to tiny) in the book. Check the corrections page often.

Weekly Assignments

Check the main page outline for exact readings.
Read every assigned problem, both recommended and hand-in. Even the ones you don't solve usually have useful information about matroids.
I do not expect you to solve all the problems. Solve as many as you can do a good job on. A few good solutions are worth much more than many bad solutions. Note that use of AI does not contribute to your learning (maybe the AI learns).

* = an especially important problem to learn, whether or not you solve it.

"P" problems are on the Project Page. "X" problems are on the Extra Page.

No. Week of: Reading: Recommended
problems:		 Hand in: Notes:
OAll term: Oxley's Preliminaries It has essential background on finite fields and graphs that you should keep in mind.
A8/19-8/21: §1.1 §1.1 10 (amusing) M 8/31 (rev'd): §1.1 #2, 5, 11; P1(a)
B8/24-8/28: §§1.2-1.4 W 9/2 (rev'd): P2, P3.
W 9/2: §1.1 ##4, 9; §1.2 ##2, 5; §1.3 ##1, 2		 §1.2 ##1, 2, 3, 5 are worthwhile theorems to learn.
§1.1 #14 is a valuable theorem, called "strong circuit elimination".
C8/31-9/4: §§1.5-7
C9/8-9: §2.1 W 9/9: §1.4 ##3, 4.

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