Combinatorial Methods with Computer Applications (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications) (Hardcover)

by Jonathan L. Gross (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Combinatorial Methods with Computer Applications provides in-depth coverage of recurrences, generating functions, partitions, and permutations, along with some of the most interesting graph and network topics, design constructions, and finite geometries. Requiring only a foundation in discrete mathematics, it can serve as the textbook in a combinatorial methods course or in a combined graph theory and combinatorics course. After an introduction to combinatorics, the book explores six systematic approaches within a comprehensive framework: sequences, solving recurrences, evaluating summation expressions, binomial coefficients, partitions and permutations, and integer methods. The author then focuses on graph theory, covering topics such as trees, isomorphism, automorphism, planarity, coloring, and network flows. The final chapters discuss automorphism groups in algebraic counting methods and describe combinatorial designs, including Latin squares, block designs, projective planes, and affine planes. In addition, the appendix supplies background material on relations, functions, algebraic systems, finite fields, and vector spaces. Paving the way for students to understand and perform combinatorial calculations, this accessible text presents the discrete methods necessary for applications to algorithmic analysis, performance evaluation, and statistics as well as for the solution of combinatorial problems in engineering and the social sciences.

About the Author
Columbia University, New York, USA

Product Details

• Hardcover: 664 pages
• Publisher: Chapman & Hall/CRC; 1 edition (November 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584887435
• ISBN-13: 978-1584887430
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,579,040 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars generally good book on discrete mathematics, July 29, 2008

By	Chee Lim Cheung - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is, on the whole, a generally good book on discrete mathematics- strong on graphs (the author's specialty) and networks, not so comprehensive on combinatorics. The eclectic mix of topics covered - permutations, recurrences, generating functions, graphs, networks, finite geometries, etc - tend to make the book disjointed and unfocused at times. The reader will be better served by studying the topics individually in greater depth. A possible reading list would be: Combinatorial Problems and Exercises by Lovasz, generatingfunctionology by Wilf and, yes, Gross's very own Graph Theory and Its Applications.

5.0 out of 5 stars Combinatorics, February 27, 2008

By	Dragos Velicanu - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Good book overall. Easy to read and informative. Good at teaching you how to solve problems. Example problems are sometimes only the easiest problems, and extending the method to harder problems is not always trivially apparent. Also sometimes skips somewhat important steps in solving example problems.