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With contributions by numerous experts

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The third edition of this definitive and popular book continues to pursue the question: what is the most efficient way to pack a large number of equal spheres in n-dimensional Euclidean space? The authors also examine such related issues as the kissing number problem, the covering problem, the quantizing problem, and the classification of lattices and quadratic forms. There is also a description of the applications of these questions to other areas of mathematics and science such as number theory, coding theory, group theory, analogue-to-digital conversion and data compression, n-dimensional crystallography, dual theory and superstring theory in physics. New and of special interest is a report on some recent developments in the field, and an updated and enlarged supplementary bibliography with over 800 items.

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1 Sphere Packings and Kissing Numbers.- 2 Coverings, Lattices and Quantizers.- 3 Codes, Designs and Groups.- 4 Certain Important Lattices and Their Properties.- 5 Sphere Packing and Error-Correcting Codes.- 6 Laminated Lattices.- 7 Further Connections Between Codes and Lattices.- 8 Algebraic Constructions for Lattices.- 9 Bounds for Codes and Sphere Packings.- 10 Three Lectures on Exceptional Groups.- 11 The Golay Codes and the Mathieu Groups.- 12 A Characterization of the Leech Lattice.- 13 Bounds on Kissing Numbers.- 14 Uniqueness of Certain Spherical Codes.- 15 On the Classification of Integral Quadratic Forms.- 16 Enumeration of Unimodular Lattices.- 17 The 24-Dimensional Odd Unimodular Lattices.- 18 Even Unimodular 24-Dimensional Lattices.- 19 Enumeration of Extremal Self-Dual Lattices.- 20 Finding the Closest Lattice Point.- 21 Voronoi Cells of Lattices and Quantization Errors.- 22 A Bound for the Covering Radius of the Leech Lattice.- 23 The Covering Radius of the Leech Lattice.- 24 Twenty-Three Constructions for the Leech Lattice.- 25 The Cellular Structure of the Leech Lattice.- 26 Lorentzian Forms for the Leech Lattice.- 27 The Automorphism Group of the 26-Dimensional Even Unimodular Lorentzian Lattice.- 28 Leech Roots and Vinberg Groups.- 29 The Monster Group and its 196884-Dimensional Space.- 30 A Monster Lie Algebra?.- Supplementary Bibliography.

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Third Edition

J.H. Conway and N.J.A. Sloane

Sphere Packings, Lattices and Groups

"This is the third edition of this reference work in the literature on sphere packings and related subjects. In addition to the content of the preceding editions, the present edition provides in its preface a detailed survey on recent developments in the field, and an exhaustive supplementary bibliography for 1988-1998. A few chapters in the main text have also been revised."- MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

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