Transitive factorizations of permutations and geometry

We give an account of our work on transitive factorizations of permutations. The work has had impact upon other areas of mathematics such as the enumeration of graph embeddings, random matrices, branched covers, and the moduli spaces of curves. Aspects of these seemingly unrelated areas are seen to be related in a unifying view from the perspective of algebraic combinatorics. At several points this work has intertwined with Richard Stanley's in significant ways.Comment: 12 pages, dedicated to Richard Stanley on the occasion of his 70th birthda

A proof of a conjecture for the number of ramified coverings of the sphere by the torus

An explicit expression is obtained for the generating series for the number of ramified coverings of the sphere by the torus, with elementary branch points and prescribed ramification type over infinity. This proves a conjecture of Goulden, Jackson and Vainshtein for the explicit number of such coverings.Comment: 10 page

Exact Solution of a Drop-push Model for Percolation

Motivated by a computer science algorithm known as `linear probing with hashing' we study a new type of percolation model whose basic features include a sequential `dropping' of particles on a substrate followed by their transport via a `pushing' mechanism. Our exact solution in one dimension shows that, unlike the ordinary random percolation model, the drop-push model has nontrivial spatial correlations generated by the dynamics itself. The critical exponents in the drop-push model are also different from that of the ordinary percolation. The relevance of our results to computer science is pointed out.Comment: 4 pages revtex, 2 eps figure

Enumeration of simple random walks and tridiagonal matrices

We present some old and new results in the enumeration of random walks in one dimension, mostly developed in works of enumerative combinatorics. The relation between the trace of the $n$-th power of a tridiagonal matrix and the enumeration of weighted paths of $n$ steps allows an easier combinatorial enumeration of the paths. It also seems promising for the theory of tridiagonal random matrices .Comment: several ref.and comments added, misprints correcte