An important part of the course is formed by the theory of symmetric functions. This is a classic topic in algebra, however the theory turns out to be of a mainly combinatorial character. The ring of symmetric functions has a basis consisting of the Schur functions. These are generating functions for so called Young tableaux.
On the combinatorial side the course will cover several topics from classical enumerative combinatorics. This concerns in the first instance partitions, permutations, plane partitions and tableaux, where some of the highlights are the hook-length formula for enumerating Young tableaux, MacMahon's enumeration formula for plane partitions, the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth correspondence between permutations (and more generally, nonnegative integer matrices) and pairs of tableaux, jeu de taquin, the theory of monotone subsequences, enumeration using non-crossing lattice paths, etc.