Discrete Mathematics with Ducks 1st Edition

Worst book of all time???

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dmena

July 17, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Awful book, the author clearly has a very good grasp of Discrete Mathematics, but she simply doesn't know how to convey that information to her readers. She does a terrible job at explaining most of the topics.

4 people found this helpful

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March 8, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I've seen a lot of bad math books, but this one takes the cake. Most of the explanations make no sense, and it is absolutely not helpful at all. Reading it is a waste of time, it will not help you in your course at all.

2 people found this helpful

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July 10, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I had to purchase this textbook for a Discrete Math class and it was the first year that this professor had tried a new book. While I can tell that the author knows a lot about the topic, I found that it was not user-friendly to students without a background in Discrete Math. This was my first exposure to Discrete, and all of her explanations were in lengthy paragraph form without any tables or many visuals. On top of that, sometimes she wouldn't define her terms, so I ended up googling most of the topics that we were supposed to read about before class.

A friend of mine who had taken Discrete Math before said that she loved the book. It probably makes more sense if you already understand the subject and are delving further, but as a newcomer I was very lost.

4 people found this helpful

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February 3, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I have never a encountered such a vague, wordy, and overall terrible textbook such as this. The examples, (if you can even call them that) are unclear, poorly worded and the explanations are lacking in explanation, clarity, and diagrams. Instead of writing out a math problem, the author decides to "explain" it using words instead of showing the reader how to do it and how she solved it. The math is mixed in with the wordy explanations which make it difficult to read and follow. The answers to the examples are poorly explained. The only redeeming quality of this book is that the author included corny jokes that occasionally make one chuckle. If your professor is using this book DROP THE COURSE NOW. You will NOT adequately learn from this book.

3 people found this helpful

Borderline incomprehensible.

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kenneth

April 1, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I don't know how this can pass as a mathematics book. I understand that discrete math has less emphasis on numbers than most other math subjects, but a math book should not have to be read like a poorly written novel. The book gets off on good footing for simple topics such as counting and sets, using concrete examples that are relatable (????) like the number of ways one can purchase different ice cream flavors from an ice cream store. However, when the book begins introducing new, unfamiliar concepts, everything goes downhill. The book trips over its own feet when trying to explain these new topics. They often lead to a long and dense casual conversation of an idea while trying to cram witty humor into it. The problems at the end of each chapter have no solution and the problems in the middle of the chapter that have a solution have no explanation. What irritates me most is that the examples in the book stop half way and at the end of the chapter ask you to finish it. It's lazy to use an example that was supposed to explain a concept to the reader as a problem the reader is expected to finish.

Overall, the book is incomplete in its explanation and practice problems. With that pointed out, I supposed this book would suffice as a supplement for those who have some experience in discrete math and are able to put together the pieces missing from this book.

Worst of all, if you're actually looking forward to the ducks (for some reason), they mention ducks 4 or 5 times throughout the 450 paged book.

4 people found this helpful

great discrete math textbook.

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Monica Swartz

March 1, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Its a really great book. It makes learning discrete a bit more entertaining and does a good job in explaining somethings like I'm 5 so I actually understand. There are some more difficult sections that do require you to reread, but if you do the problems for each section and just think about it some you'll understand it.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazonian Customer

Fun and Engaging, but..

March 8, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The breezy, conversational style is wonderful- and it's well written all the way through. Tough subjects are broken down into simple explanations that actually make sense, which is sort of rare in mathematics books. However, this book is not meant for self-study, as there aren't many typical problem sets with solutions. I wish that it had more questions with answers for those of us without an instructor to ask. Maybe a new edition could have a workbook with answers to address this? It's still a wonderful book, but removing one star for lack of solutions manual. The best way to get better at understanding is through practice, and what's the point of practicing doing something incorrectly? Solutions are important.

2 people found this helpful

That would have worked out fine IF the book actually taught us anything

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