Title: An Introduction to Symmetric Functions, part II

Abstract: In this pair of talks, I will provide an overview of basic results regarding symmetric functions.  My goal will be to create a "road map" for anyone who is interested in reading more about these objects in Chapter 7 of Stanley's Enumerative Combinatorics, Volume 2 (if you have a copy and are interested, it might be helpful to bring it with you).  We will motivate the study of symmetric functions by interpreting them as generalizations of subsets and multisubsets of [n], so these talks should be accessible to anyone who is familiar with the material from the first part of MA 614.