Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-208) and index.

In the area of combinatorial identities computers are able to find very elegant proofs of difficult theorems unassisted by human intervention. This autonomy means that not only is it possible to use a PC to find such a proof, but also the proof can be checked easily. This book shows how several recently developed computer algorithms can master the difficult job of simplifying complex summations and if there is no such simplification they will prove this to be the case. The authors present the underlying mathematical theory of these methods, the principle theorems and proofs, and include a package of computer programs that can do these tasks. I. Background. 1. Proof Machines. 2. Tightening the Target. 3. The Hypergeometric Database -- II. The Five Basic Algorithms. 4. Sister Celine's Method. 5. Gosper's Algorithm. 6. Zeilberger's Algorithm. 7. The WZ Phenomenon. 8. Algorithm Hyper -- III. Epilogue. 9. An Operator Algebra Viewpoint -- A: The WWW sites and the software