Based on a seminar at the Mathematical Research Center in Oberwolfach in October 2004, this book contains polished notes of three introductory courses to tropical geometry, which give an introduction to the subject and contain some applications.

These notes present a polished introduction to tropical geometry and contain some applications of this rapidly developing and attractive subject. Tropical geometry is algebraic geometry over the semifield of tropical numbers, i.e., the real numbers and negative infinity enhanced with the (max,+)-arithmetics. Geometrically, tropical varieties are much simpler than their classical counterparts. Yet they carry information about complex and real varieties.

The notes consists of three chapters which complete each other and give a possibility for non-specialists to make the first steps in the subject which is not yet well represented in the literature. They are based on a seminar at the Mathematical Research Center in Oberwolfach in October 2004. The intended audience is graduate, post-graduate, and Ph.D. students as well as established researchers in mathematics.

Contains polished notes of three introductory courses to tropical geometry Based on a seminar at the Mathematical Research Center in Oberwolfach in October 2004 Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Inhalt
Preface.- 1. Introduction to tropical geometry - Images under the logarithm - Amoebas - Tropical curves.- 2. Patchworking of algebraic varieties - Toric geometry - Viro's patchworking method - Patchworking of singular algebraic surfaces - Tropicalization in the enumeration of nodal curves.- 3. Applications of tropical geometry to enumerative geometry - Tropical hypersurfaces - Correspondence theorem - Welschinger invariants.- Bibliography.