Discrete Math

This thick solution manual contains: 1. Fully explained (wordy even) solutions to odd numbered problems 2. Fully explained (wordy even) solutions to odd numbered end of chapter supplementary exercises 3. Concise answers to chapter review questions. 4. 11 page Guide to writing proofs. 5. By chapter common mistakes list and suggested ways to overcome them. 6. By chapter sample tests with all solutions provided. 7. By chapter crib sheets with definitions, terms, explanations. This is by far the most complete solution manual of any kind of text I have ever seen. It is obvious the author wants people to learn discrete math. Using the text and the solution manual you could teach yourself DIscrete Mathematics, and you would not have to be particularly good at math or programming to start. I had this book for a discrete math class many years ago in a CS program. It was a tough class. What I did learn, I got from this text/sol manual. Now I'm in a proofs class years later with a miserably useless text with none of the features above. I'm now relying on the Rosen text and solution manual, which seems like an oasis of information in comparison.

Textbooks for discrete mathematics define a broad spectrum in terms of the level of difficulty. At the lower end, there are the books that present the theorems, but rarely if ever include a proof. Then, armed with the theorem, it goes on to apply the theorem to solve the appropriate problems. At the higher end, there are the books that follow the theorem-proof design, with a smaller number of applications. This one is at the higher end; there are very few theorems that are not proven. Following the trend in computer science, the breadth of coverage in discrete mathematics has also increased over the years. This is reflected in the size of the book, the text section, without appendices, solutions and index is almost eight hundred pages. The coverage is complete, and it starts exactly where it should, with logic, basic set theory and functions. After that, there is a chapter on algorithms and matrices, one on proof strategies with induction and recursion, three chapters covering counting principles and discrete probability, and ending with chapters on relations, graphs, trees, Boolean algebra and modeling computation. The explanations are sound, although the mathematical depth is a bit on the high end, which no doubt explains some of the very negative reviews. There are many exercises at the end of the sections and solutions to the odds are included in an appendix. In my opinion, this is an absolute necessity, I will not even consider a book that doesn't include the solutions to many of the problems. At the end of each chapter there is a set of supplementary exercises, a list of projects to be solved by writing a computer program and a list of suggested writing projects. What I liked most about the book has nothing to do with the discrete mathematics. The author included a large number of brief biographical sketches of mathematicians. When I was looking the book over for the first time, I paged through the book reading every one the biographical shorts. Nevertheless, this is one of the better books in the field of discrete mathematics, with large amounts of time spent on both the theory and applications, it has just the right mix to satisfy both tastes.

This book easily ranks as my favorite lower-division math/computer science textbook. Aside from its omission of elementary coding theory, this book contains just about every important discrete mathematical topic (logic, sets, functions, algorithms, complexity, combinatorics, relations, graphs, Boolean algebra, formal language theory) that a beginning student should be introduced to. Plenty of examples in each section that reflect the end-of-section exercises. Very well organized in that key definitions, rules, and theorems are boxed and well highlighted. Concepts are well explained and reinforced with numerous examples.And most importantly, plenty of engaging problems that range from trivial to quite challenging. Applications to areas such as computer science are in abundance. But most enjoyable for me are the numerous biographical sketches of important discrete mathematicians. All around an excellent text, and one I had been searching for since my days as a freshman in college when I had wondered when, as a math major, I would ever get to the fun stuff: logic, graphs, codes, etc.. Little did I know that I would have to wait 17 years as a professor at the same college to finally get to it.

The other reviewer was obviously talking about "Discrete Math and Its Applications," which is the actual text book. This book is the student solutions guide for that text. So don't buy this book thinking that it is a text book, because this book was only meant to suppliment the text.I found that this guide was a must have companion to "Discrete Math and Its Applications." It has the worked out solutions to many of the exercises in the text, which is very helpful. All-in-all, a definite must-have suppliment to the text.

I'm taking a course in discrete math at Monmouth University. I was really worried about the course, but this textbook helps make discrete interesting and understandable. The author motivates the subject with so many relevant applications that he's made me understand why the subject is important for computer science. The biographies are great too. I've also checked out the Web site and it's awesome. When I've had trouble with exercises, I've found the Student Solutions Guide to be really, really helpful. This is just about the only math textbook that I ever could read and understand.