Graph Theory (on Demand Printing Of 02787) (Paperback)

~ Frank Harary (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Almost two decades after the appearance of most of the classical texts on the subject, this fresh introduction to Graph Theory offers a reassessment of what are the theory's main fields, methods and results today. Viewed as a branch of pure mathematics, the theory of finite graphs is developed as a coherent subject in its own right, with its own unifying questions and methods. Graph Theory can be used at various different levels. It contains all the standard basic material to be taught in a first undergraduate course, complete with detailed proofs and numerous illustrations. For a graduate course, the book offers proofs of several more advanced results, most of which thus appear in a book for the first time. These proofs are described with as much care and detail as their simpler counterparts. To the professional mathematician, finally, the book affords an overview of graph theory as it stands today: with its typical questions and methods, its classic results, and some of those developments that have made this subject such an exciting area in recent years. -- Book Description --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

An effort has been made to present the various topics in the theory of graphs in a logical order, to indicate the historical background, and to clarify the exposition by including figures to illustrate concepts and results. In addition, there are three appendices which provide diagrams of graphs, directed graphs, and trees. The emphasis throughout is on theorems rather than algorithms or applications, which however are occaisionally mentioned.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (October 20, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201410338
• ISBN-13: 978-0201410334
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #492,746 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exellent Introduction, August 7, 2000

By	Marete (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Graph Theory (Graduate Texts in Mathematics) (Hardcover)

Almost no pre-requisites are needed for this book, (There is a short section which touches on Linear Alg, and another on very elementary topology) and yet it will take you from the very basic notions, to research level problems in this subject. It covers almost all the major notions about graphs, including coloring, matching, flows... Any reader is bound to find the section on Ramsey theory especially interesting. However, infinite graphs and Algebric graph theory are not covered.

There is a useful commentary on the references at the end of each chapter.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A class for theoretical math, but not applied math, June 4, 2001

By	Jeff A. Bowles (San Francisco, ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I used this text in school, as a computer science student in a theoretical math class.

If you are looking for examples of computer algorithms, look elsewhere; the closest this will get you is to "existence proofs", which is showing that something (such as a hamiltonian cycle) exists in a graph that has thus-and-such number of points or edges, but not tell you which sequence of points/edges make up that something. (For example, a graph can be embedded in a plane unless there's a subgraph that looks like K(5) or K(3,3) inside it - this is in about chapter 5, and an important theorem. The text proves this, but doesn't tell you HOW to embed the graph in a plane.)

That said, this is an excellent book for theoretical mathematics. I understand that the first two chapters can be used as a high school math text, as an introduction to proofs, and agree that it would work well.

As a formal introduction to proving theorems, especially in a self-contained world (you don't need many prerequisites for this, like you do for a topology or analysis text), this is pretty swell.

So, to the person who said that he didn't like this because there weren't algorithms in the book: you can find those in the semiliterate computer science textbooks. (I would insist that the last four words of the previous sentence are redundant.)

Look here for mathematics.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Small yet comprehensive., February 17, 2002

By	Mosta McKracken (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Graph Theory (Graduate Texts in Mathematics) (Paperback)

An excellent book. With minimum knowledge and an open mind, you can work rapidly throughout this book. I used it as a reference for some work I'm currently doing on the structure of extremal graphs and it came in very handy. To sum up, it's what you would normally expect from Springer's series on grad math texts.