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Discrete Math Textbook Recommendations?
JonnyRo88 asks: "I am an undergraduate CS major at the University of Central Florida. I took a Discrete Math course this past semester and had a VERY difficult time with the text book the class used: 'Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics' by R. Grimaldi. I do not attribute my difficulties to the book itself, rather I just feel that my learning style is incompatible with the way this book is laid out. I'm sure that others have had similar experiences where they could just not -click- with a book. Like many people I know I tend to learn almost all of the class material from the book. I learn really well from books that focus heavily on examples and explanations on how those examples work. I would love to hear what Slashdot readers consider their most useful Discrete Math textbook. Most interesting are books that have very good discussions on the basic strategies of proofs. I am currently preparing to take an exam that the department requires all CS majors take before they can move to higher level classes, it will test me on my knowledge of discrete math, specifically proofs (by induction, disproof by contradiction, direct proof, recursive definitions, etc)."
Discrete mathematics. Makes me want to paraphrase Lazarus Long...
"Math is not necessarily something to be ashamed of--but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."
"A mathematician who calculates in public may have other nasty habits."
and my personal addition, a variation on Clarke's Law, "Any sufficiently advanced mathematics is indistinguishable from surrealism"
This sig intentionally left justified.
I am not batman, I am not Johan Sebastian Bach, and I am not Richard Feynman, I have accepted this; perhaps you are not capable of Discrete Mathematics.
<voice="Chief Wiggum">
Oh, sure, and that's exactly what Batman would say. To preserve his anonymity to fight crime.
I think you tried to be a little too clever there, Mr. Caped Crusader!
</voice>
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Tucker, Applied Combinatorics. It has the richest problem set of any book i owned as an undergrad. I've had grad level texts use problems from the book. I'm not just saying this because i have a copy of it for sale :-)
My favorites are "Discrete Math for Dummies" - it's very clearly written for normal people, not those math whizzes, and it has funny cartoons related to discrete math.
Also, "Learn Discrete Math in 24 Hours" is pretty good.
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