Customer Reviews

Combinatorial Enumeration (Dover Books on Mathematics)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Keep in mind I am not a mathematician, and this book ought to be outside my reach, but I come to generator functions through a particular project which has sparked further interest. In this field finding texts is not that easy, nor is finding someone who has an ability to teach from them, so as I just start out reading this book I am amazed, given the density of the text, at how much I can pull out--that to its credit, not mine. Again, though, with the paucity of texts in this area this text could be a little more complete on setting the foundations by templating the ideas against stock examples.

It is not for the faint of heart in things mathematical, to be sure. If you don't already grasp the somewhat slippery idea of a generator function then you won't get through the front door here. In short, a book like this starts off by looking at a meta-description of the things that are introduced in beginning books on combinatorial analysis. The exciting thing about this field is that once one starts working with sufficiently advanced symbolism (and concepts) then there are ample moments of "Oh..ooo..this is just that, and that looks like it's really the same as that..." Happy times.