Title: Polygon dissections

Abstract: I will begin with some history of polygon dissections, including their bivariate and multivariate recursion relations, and the use of Lagrange-Bürmann inversion to convert these relations to explicit enumerations such as the Kirkman-Cayley formula. Then I will describe recent joint work with V. Ovsienko on the enumeration of quiddities of dissections.

The talk will be accessible to graduate students. All of the terms above will be defined, and the subject does not require very much background material.