Mathematical Structures for Computer Science

I used this book in my Data Structures class. It has sample problems with solutions in the back of the book so you understand what they were talking about (unfortunately, I cannot say the same for a lot of data structures texts) The sample problems were also good for review for an exam. This was one of the few Computer Science textbooks that I have actually kept as a reference.

Although there is now consensus over the coverage in a first course in discrete mathematics, the level of difficulty one finds in books for this audience has a wide range. Some opt for the basic approach, with very little rigor, and anything labeled as a proof is either trivial or an advanced waving of the hands. Notational complexity is kept to a minimum, which is fine for the beginner, but limits the value as the student goes on into more advanced courses. On the other end, there are those where rigorous proofs abound, it reads more like a book for traditional math majors rather than one largely designed for computer science majors. While Gersting is somewhere in the middle, the slant is more towards the advanced. The first four chapters cover logic, the fundamentals of proofs, set theory and relations and functions respectively. This order is in complete agreement with my beliefs. I would not give any book that does not start with these basic topics a second look much less consider adopting it. Graphs are covered in chapters five and six; Boolean algebra in seven and the theory of computation is covered in chapter eight. The treatment is on the high end, but still within the bounds of a first course in discrete mathematics. Worked examples are everywhere and a large number of exercises are at the end of each section. Practice problems are embedded inside the chapters and solutions to all the practice problems are found in an appendix. While I believe I have found a better book to use in my discrete class, this one is my second choice. In fact I successfully used it for two years, until I replaced it. The primary reasons for the change was that the new book has biographical sketches of mathematicians (something I adore), the font is larger and there are more solutions to the exercises.

With all due respect to some of the other reviewers, I found this book extremely helpful and extremely well written. Much of the polarity in the reviews may stem from the fact that different people have different learning models and corresponding expectations. As a career changer with several degrees in other engineering disciplines, I found many of the explanations very helpful and very appropriate relative to my current learning/retraining objectives. With the examples and practice problems, this book provides what I believe to be an excellent introduction to a wide range of topics relating to the mathematical basis for computer science. I find that I typically consult this book first before moving to other more rigorous (and often more obscure) treatments of the same topics.

This is an excellent text. It is great for anyone who is interested in Computer Science. Professor Gersting covers all of the basic mathematical structures necessary for through understading of Computer Science. The material is presented on a low level initailly to facilitate understanding. The relationship between Math and Computer Science is one in which Professor Judith Gersting presents well without explicitly stating it. This book is well organized and detailed in every way. The problems presented are appropriate and timely. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have.

The textbook is one of the best books available for study of discrete mathematics for the computer science student. From the start it lays a solid foundation by covering formal logic. The treatment of propositional logic and proof techniques emphacizes rules of deduction, which are clearly explained and illustrated in the text. The author's mix of examples, practice problems, tables and reminders is especially helpful to the reader. The coverage of formal logic is as good as any discrete textbook I have reviewed or used before. The coverage of mathematical induction is very well done, but could be made even more accessible by having more diagrams and/or intuitive discussion. The coverage of countable versus uncountable sets is so well done it would have been nice to have this to read when studying computation theory.There is a section on topological sorting that is as good as the treatment in James L Hein's textbook (Discrete Mathematics). The coverage on graph and tree data structures and the associated algorithms is excellent background for study of practical data structures.All in all, this is an excellent textbook.