Introductory Graph Theory [Unabridged] [Paperback]

Gary Chartrand (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1984

Clear, lively style covers all basics of theory and application, including mathematical models, elementary concepts of graph theory, transportation problems, connection problems, party problems, diagraphs and mathematical models, games and puzzles, graphs and social psychology, planar graphs and coloring problems, and graphs and other mathematics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; Unabridged edition (December 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486247759
• ISBN-13: 978-0486247755
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview for those with solid math background, July 3, 2002

By 

"johnb0123" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introductory Graph Theory (Paperback)

This book is excellent, especially if you already have a pretty good background in math. I don't... high school math through calculus, almost all of which I've forgotten. But the appendix gets you up to speed on the basics of sets, functions, and proofs using mathematical induction. That was enough for me to get a lot out of all but the last chapter, which deals with matrices and groups. Although I have to admit that I occasionally needed to read an example four or five times before I really got it.

I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in graph theory and to any serious software developer (which I why I picked it up). The ideas presented are directly applicable to that line of work.

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Holy Grail of Graph Theory, August 16, 2005

By 

J. P. Baugh (Dearborn, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introductory Graph Theory (Paperback)

This is, for all purposes, the Holy Grail of Graph Theory. It is older, but still very much applicable. As a computer scientist (instructor and Masters degree student), I highly recommend this for students studying Discrete Mathematics and Graph Theory.

It has several examples throughout and the presentation is excellent. Many books on mathematics from this 'era' tend to be overly wordy and full of poorly explained examples and topics. This book suffers very little from this problem.

I recommend this to anyone looking for a good introductory book on Graph Theory. It also makes an excellent reference book for even the experienced individual.

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chemistry, Neural Nets, Matrix Manipulation -- all here, April 3, 2003

By 

Stephen Rives "Steve" (Kansas City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introductory Graph Theory (Paperback)

While working on my math degree I wanted some light reading on Graph Theory for completing some side projects. This book hit the spot, and the examples saved me.

Chartrand uses applications from every field of interest (e.g. finance, Chemistry, Physics, games, social psychology, computers, etc.) Who would have thought that while reading a math book that a friendly discussion of social psychology would pop-up? Well, that's how Chartrand is able to keep us moving through the pages; he uses the common to reveal the mysteries of Graph Theory. Who doesn't know about the Tower of Hanoi or the Knight's Tour or the one-boat-fox-and-chickens problems? All of these classics make for ready connecting points, leading us into profound restatements of well-known problems. Not much space is devoted to creating artificial problems for which we must be convinced need solving, and so the book is rather thin (a real bonus for those of us who don't want to spend a month in a math book).

Picking up the book after having read it so long ago, I was happy to find that the chapters are nearly autonomous and can be profitably read by themselves -- so keep it as a reference and jump in as the need arises, you'll be both entertained and mathematically illumined.

My only complaint is that the writing style is rather thick with mathematical lingo (seemingly) for the sake of being technically pithy. I am not convinced that such is necessary for a good math book.