Matrices offer some of the most powerful techniques in modem mathematics. In the social sciences they provide fresh insights into an astonishing variety of topics. Dominance matrices can show how power struggles in offices or committees develop; Markov chains predict how fast news or gossip will spread in a village; permutation matrices illuminate kinship structures in tribal societies. All these invaluable techniques and many more are explained clearly and simply in this wide-ranging book.Originally published in 1986.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.