A Guide to NIP Theories

This book, the first on the rapidly expanding topic of NIP theories, gives an accessible introduction to the subject for students and researchers in model theory and related areas such as combinatorics and algebraic geometry. It covers the basic notions while presenting a concise, elegant tour through the main results.

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The study of NIP theories has received much attention from model theorists in the last decade, fuelled by applications to o-minimal structures and valued fields. This book, the first to be written on NIP theories, is an introduction to the subject that will appeal to anyone interested in model theory: graduate students and researchers in the field, as well as those in nearby areas such as combinatorics and algebraic geometry. Without dwelling on any one particular topic, it covers all of the basic notions and gives the reader the tools needed to pursue research in this area. An effort has been made in each chapter to give a concise and elegant path to the main results and to stress the most useful ideas. Particular emphasis is put on honest definitions, handling of indiscernible sequences and measures. The relevant material from other fields of mathematics is made accessible to the logician.