Customer Reviews

Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I have read "Discrete Mathematics" by Epp, Rosen and Ross which are the three most common discrete math texts that I encounter at university.

Of these three, I would rate Epp's book as my favorite because it has the clearest explanations and is so easy to read that you can't help but feel like you understand all of the content completely. The only failing that Epp's book might have is that it is not as thorough in its coverage of the material as some of the more technical books. I would say that it covers about 90% of the material and leaves out some of the more obscure topics.

Rosen's book would be the most thorough, covering every topic in meticulous detail and offering a jumping point for other texts in cryptography and number theory. Although this book is more complete than Epp's, it is also less readable and requires more effort to get through. Ideally you would use Epp's book to learn the material and then go to Rosen's book for a technical reference.

For those of you who are considering Ross's book, I have one thing to say and that is don't. Although I have read this book and done a lot of the problems in the first 3/4 of the text, this book is neither clear in its explanations like Epp nor is it as complete as Rosen's book. If you are assigned this book for a course, my suggestion would be to buy Epp's book and photocopy the Ross homework problems from a friend's textbook.

Take the advice of someone who has read all three books. If you have to buy just one, then get the Epp book. It is better to understand 90% of the material completely rather than 100% of the material partially.

I have used Rosen's book half a dozen or more times for classes I have taught to undergraduates and graduate students (using editions 3, 4, 5, and 6). My universal experience has been that students find it hard to follow and incomplete. However, because it is so broad in its coverage of topics, has lots of excellent problem sets, and treats the subject seriously, I find it useful as a resource in the class, and a reference outside of class. When I use this book, I know that the students will have to get the concepts from me (won't get them from the text)... but that's what I'm there for. The depth of the text pulls the more advanced students along, and is a sufficient review of a well-planned lecture that, overall, it works.

I took an accelerated 6 week class on discrete math... and though I've never studied that hard (in my life) the class was very rewarding. My professor earned his PhD under Kolmogorov, and if you know that name then you'll know what I mean that it takes THAT level of a mathemetician in order to explain clearly what this text tries so hard to obfuscate.

I'm a math enthusiast, so I also bought copies of Grimaldi's and Epp's Discrete Math texts, and for this class I also needed to borrow copies of number theory texts for the section on number theory, logic texts for logic, etc. It's kinda sad in the state of things that one has to go to outside sources for so many of these topics... but Rosen makes you do it.

My issues on logic: They don't explicitly tell you that a function P(x,y) holds only for objects placed into the function. There is a problem in the section of nested quantifiers where the function is given as P(x,y) but then the solution uses x and y for something totally different. The book leads you to believe that P(x,y) means "property P holds for 'x' and 'y'" but with a function the property is static and the letters are dynamic. The book explains functions from the perspective that if you see P(x,y) then that property holds for x and y, and the specific problem I'm talking about will lead you astray when applying the logical construction; textbooks should be clear enough that the student doesn't have to go to the teacher on simple concepts like this

My issues truly began in Chapter 3. The pseudo code they use is loosely documented and assumes the reader already knows some programming because the entire section on algorithms was greek to me until a study partner who is a programmer by living gave me a quick crash course in programming that clarified what was going on in each step. The section on Big-O notation could have been simplified if the author simply said "we need to create a function that will be bigger than what is stated, and define 'k' as the beginning value where this is true and 'C' is the total sum of the coefficients that also guarantees this." The book takes a 5-6 page approach that buries this simple concept into obtuse mathematical jargon. I can't stress enough how bad the book covers this. (Epp's text with depictions of graphs that explicitly state the difference between Big-O, Big Omega, and Big-Theta was valuable to clarify this topic.)

Number theory is covered haphazardly, introducing div and mod before discussing the nature of numbers and primes. Div and mod are absolutely essential to number theory but the order of presentation serves only to confuse students. I grabbed a number theory book, "Elementary Number Theory" by David M. Burton and that text covers number theory in a much less confusing light than Rosen's text. (These books should all be in your school's library.)

Another book, suggested by my Professor, was Polya's "How to Solve it." This book locks you into the kind of thinking you need to be doing to handle proofs (and other types of problems.)

In short, if you're REALLY good on your mathematics... like you got > 4.0 in high school you might find my observations wrong. But if you are coming from the other direction, and are rising up to that level... this book just doesn't get you there without a TON of outside help. I suppose if nothing else, this book taught me how to use my library for supplementary materials as not a single chapter went by without a need to find things outside of the text.

First off, I have read/browsed other discreet mathematics books, this could be the best, but I hope not.

There are two big problems with this book.

1.) The book introduces material in the end of chapter exercises... You get to squirm and struggle for air only looking at an answer in the back (if odd).

2.) Many approaches at explaining topics are more confusing than they should be. I feel truly sorry for anyone who needs to take a course with this book for computer science, and does so before digital logic. The greatest example of poor explanations is the chapter on boolean algebra. Had I not known boolean algebra from part of a chapter in Mano's Digital Design, and 2hrs30min in class + 1 assignment, I know I would have been in for a ride. I have to laugh at how bad this book goes at explaining boolean algebra, I avoided reading sections to make sure not to let the book confuse my already solid knowledge.

There are many other smaller problems in this book. I hope there is better out there.

I have to add in as a note, that the books biggest problem of introducing material via exercises, creates test taking issues. If your professor chooses problems relating to material introduced in exercises, and you did not do the exercises, you're screwed. I have a habit of not doing the homework if I read the section and understand it, that has worked until this textbook/course combination.

I gave 1 out of 5 stars to this book on my previous review based on the fact that my professor assigned a lot of homeworks, and many of them I found that there were no discussions/ or no related concepts represented in the book. Several of questions ask about the problems that the author never mentions in his text. I found myself in desperate situation with those questions, so I purchased a solution book in order to help me survive. The solution covers only even-number problems, whereas assignments were given only on the odd ones. Thing ridiculous is, for example:
* Question 35 (not exactly number) asks about the things the author never discussed, then if you go to question 36 in solution book to find something similar in order to help you solve q.35, all you will get may be like "by question 35, we have ..., then ..." Is that stupid? Many of these occur throughout the book.
Furthermore, the text is disorganized in some ways. Here one example:
** In chapter 4, Rosen discusses about the recursion by giving examples. One such example is that he uses recursive approach to define a rooted tree. The point is he never says a word about what the rooted tree is at first. It sounds like you use an unstudied object as a means for supporting your discussion on a new concept.
This somewhat drove me crazy and was the major reason that caused me to take the spite out on the book through giving negative review. When I finished my course, however, I had a chance to review the materials, and I realized that I was unreasonable in judging thing that way. Despite of those shortcomings, the book does accomplish its job which it is intended to. I got an A- from this tough class, which covered 11 chapters in only one semester, predominantly based on reading the text section by section and solving problems as best as possible. I decided to delete that review and give it a fairer review, as my acknowledging to its contributions to my study. If you are an audience who reads but does not very much care about solving problems, the book is fine for you; otherwise, it will be a bit painful.

December 2007.
I gave 1 out of 5 stars to this book on my previous review based on the fact that many of the problems in the books asked about things never discussed. Beside that, the discussions of topics are often more confusing than clarifying readers. I often spent hours on reading and others hours on trying to catch the author's ideas. I often ended up with being crazy and depressed when it came to solve assigned problems. I was sometimes at the level of that I wish I could tear the book into pieces. I found myself in desperate situation with those irrelevant questions, so I purchased a solution book in order to help me survive. The solution covers only even-number problems, whereas my class assignments were given only on the odd ones. Thing ridiculous is, for example:
* Question 35 (not exactly number) asks about the things the author never discussed, then you are more likely to go to question 36 which is similar to the q.35 in solution book to find idea that helps you solve q.35, all you will get may be like "by question 35, we have ..., therefore ... Done." Oh, man, what should you expect from such an "solution" ? Many of these occur throughout the book.
Furthermore, the text is disorganized in some ways. Here is one example:
** In chapter 4, Rosen discusses about the recursion by giving examples. One such example is that he uses recursive approach to define a rooted tree. The point is he never says a word about what the rooted tree is at first place. It sounds like you use an unstudied object as a means for supporting your discussion on a new concept.
This took me hours and hours to read and digest such sections and was the major reason that caused me to take the spite out on the book through giving negative review. When I finished my course, however, I had a chance to review the materials, and I realized that I was unreasonable in judging thing that way. Despite of those shortcomings, the book does accomplish its job which it is intended to, although in not a great way. I got an A- from this tough class, which covered 11 chapters in only one semester, predominantly based on my reading the text section by section and solving problems as best as possible. I decided to delete the previous review and give it a fairer view, as my acknowledging to its contributions to my relatively successful study. If you are an audience who reads but does not very much care about solving problems, the book is fine for you; otherwise, it will be a bit painful.

I took an accelerated 6 week class on discrete math... and though I've never studied that hard (in my life) the class was very rewarding. My professor earned his PhD under Kolmogorov, and if you know that name then you'll know what I mean that it takes THAT level of a mathemetician in order to explain clearly what this text tries so hard to obfuscate.

I'm a math enthusiast, so I also bought copies of Grimaldi's and Epp's Discrete Math texts, and for this class I also needed to borrow copies of number theory texts for the section on number theory, logic texts for logic, etc. It's kinda sad in the state of things that one has to go to outside sources for so many of these topics... but Rosen makes you do it.

My issues on logic: They don't explicitly tell you that a function P(x,y) holds only for objects placed into the function. There is a problem in the section of nested quantifiers where the function is given as P(x,y) but then the solution uses x and y for something totally different. The book leads you to believe that P(x,y) means "property P holds for 'x' and 'y'" but with a function the property is static and the letters are dynamic. The book explains functions from the perspective that if you see P(x,y) then that property holds for x and y, and the specific problem I'm talking about will lead you astray when applying the logical construction; textbooks should be clear enough that the student doesn't have to go to the teacher on simple concepts like this

My issues truly began in Chapter 3. The pseudo code they use is loosely documented and assumes the reader already knows some programming because the entire section on algorithms was greek to me until a study partner who is a programmer by living gave me a quick crash course in programming that clarified what was going on in each step. The section on Big-O notation could have been simplified if the author simply said "we need to create a function that will be bigger than what is stated, and define 'k' as the beginning value where this is true and 'C' is the total sum of the coefficients that also guarantees this." The book takes a 5-6 page approach that buries this simple concept into obtuse mathematical jargon. I can't stress enough how bad the book covers this. (Epp's text with depictions of graphs that explicitly state the difference between Big-O, Big Omega, and Big-Theta was valuable to clarify this topic.)

Number theory is covered haphazardly, introducing div and mod before discussing the nature of numbers and primes. Div and mod are absolutely essential to number theory but the order of presentation serves only to confuse students. I grabbed a number theory book, "Elementary Number Theory" by David M. Burton and that text covers number theory in a much less confusing light than Rosen's text. (These books should all be in your school's library.)

Another book, suggested by my Professor, was Polya's "How to Solve it." This book locks you into the kind of thinking you need to be doing to handle proofs (and other types of problems.)

In short, if you're REALLY good on your mathematics... like you got > 4.0 in high school you might find my observations wrong. But if you are coming from the other direction, and are rising up to that level... this book just doesn't get you there without a TON of outside help. I suppose if nothing else, this book taught me how to use my library for supplementary materials as not a single chapter went by without a need to find things outside of the text.

I used this book in college my freshman year and I really liked it (even though I wasn't a math major). It covered the topics very well and I didn't feel lost at any point. My only complaint (besides the price) was that it maybe went a bit too slowly... perhaps a book 2/3 as large could also work.

I found the comment that this book is very tough/obscure incredibly surprising, as it is probably one of the easiest reads I've encountered in college.

Contrary to the previous review, I felt this book was one of the better math books I have used. The only complaint I would have is that some concepts are half explained in the problems instead of the lesson part, but these concepts aren't usually very important anyway. I think that the reason this book may seem disorganized or poorly written is more because of discrete math then the book. Discrete math could hardly be considered it's own branch of math and is essentially a bunch of number theories and computer related maths thrown together because they don't fit anywhere else. Oh well, not a bad book, 4/5

many of the complaints that you read have some validity. i still like it more than most other texts available, because it nicely uses computer science examples (as is clearly stated by the author) AND has a VER through study guide.

Rosen's study guide is thicker than most texts. VERY detailed answers so that you can actually figure out why you got the wrong answer. i would pay more for the study guide than i would for 90% of the krapp being sold today. too many authors take the cheap cop-out of "letting the student explore on their own" = lazy author.

get the study guide, you'll be happy you did.