本书共5部分，首部分主要包括基础图论、连通性与网络流、随机图、拟阵、超图、有限集等内容；第二部分主要包括代数表达式、渐近估计方法、终端寻找系统、拉姆塞定理等内容；第三部分主要包括与组合相关的内容；第四部分主要包括组合学在算子研究中的应用、化学中的组合学等内容；第五部分主要包括组合学的历史、组合竞赛等内容。

　　Combinatorics belongs to those areas of mathematics having experienced a most impressive growth in recent years. This growth has been fuelled in large part by the increasing importance of computers， the needs of computer science and demands from applications where discrete models play more and more important roles. But also more classical branches of mathematics have come to recognizee that combinatorial structures are essential components of many mathematical theories.
　　Despite the dynamic state of this development， we feel that the time is ripe for summarizing the current status of the field and for surveying those major results that in our opinion will be of long-term importance. We approached leading experts in all areas of combinatorics to write chapters for this Handbook. The response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and the result is what you see here.