Combinatorial research has proceeded vigorously in Russia over the last few decades, based on both translated Western sources and original Russian material. The present volume extends the extremal approach to the solution of a large class of problems, including some that were hitherto regarded as exclusively algorithmic, and broadens the choice of theoretical bases for modelling real phenomena in order to solve practical problems. Audience: Graduate students of mathematics and engineering interested in the thematics of extremal problems and in the field of combinatorics in general. Can be used both as a textbook and as a reference handbook.