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Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition (MIT Press) 3rd Edition

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Thomas H. Cormen (Author)
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Thomas H. Cormen (Author),
Charles E. Leiserson (Author)
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Charles E. Leiserson (Author),
Ronald L. Rivest (Author)
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Ronald L. Rivest (Author),
4.3 out of 5 stars 418 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0262033848
ISBN-10: 0262033844
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Product Details

  • Series: MIT Press
  • Hardcover: 1312 pages
  • Publisher: The MIT Press; 3rd edition (July 31, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0262033844
  • ISBN-13: 978-0262033848
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 1.8 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (418 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsGreat book but ....
By M. Leeper on December 5, 2009
Format: Hardcover
First of all, this is the quintessential book on algorithms. If you want to learn, this is the book to get. The information in the book is awesome and it can make an excellent reference.

Students will need a very strong mathematical background and a strong arm to even think about picking up this book because the it is heavy (both physically and metaphorically). Mastery of discrete math is a must, graph theory, programming, and, combinatorics will also help.

With that said, this book falls short in one MAJOR area, explanations. Too often explanations are left out and left as exercises and there are no solutions to the exercises! Or details are replaced by ambiguous statements such as of "cleary, this works", or "it is easy to see that this ...". I get the concept of learning by doing, really I do, but there should be some kind of solutions so the student can CHECK his/her understanding of the material and sometimes the exercises are not about advanced aspects of a concept, sometimes it is the core material. Even if the solution manual only contained a simple answer without the work. Not only would it help tremendously but the purpose of doing the exercises would be preserved; that is the student getting his/her "hands dirty" and working out a problem.

For the love everything good and pure in this universe, I really wish writers of mathematical books would stop using statements like "clearly this works" or "it is easy to see", "it is obvious" etc. While that may be true for you and your brilliant circle of colleagues, everything is not always clear and obvious to your readers. Save all of that ambiguity for your research paper.

A great book should deliver in two areas; it should challenge and it should inform. The challenge is there, no doubt.Read more ›
23 Comments 816 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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2.0 out of 5 starsMagisterial, and impenetrable
By Clinton Staley on August 29, 2011
Format: Hardcover
I'm a professor of Computer Science at a respected teaching university, and have been the principal instructor of our introductory algorithms class for the past several years. I used Cormen (doesn't *everyone*?) for a year or two, but have finally relegated it to recommended-text status.

On the plus side, the text is, as my review title says, magisterial. It covers the field comprehensively and authoritatively. When one of the authors is the "R" in RSA, and others are well-known names, you can count on the text's expertise and accuracy. I've never found an error in this text.

BUT.... The pedagogy needs work. Explanations tend to jump too quickly to pure mathematical notation, and there are often insufficient concrete examples. The pseudocode has one-letter variable names that appear at times to be randomly generated :). At least the latest edition fixes what was a baffling indentation style. If you took a sample of 100 CS undergrads and asked them to learn algorithms principally from this text, I'd venture a guess that only the 10 brightest could do so. And even they'd be baffled at times.

I apologize for having to offer such an "emperor is naked" review to such a highly respected work, but it's time to consider more carefully pedagogical texts in the undergrad market.
18 Comments 474 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsTHE book for learning the theory and implementation of algorithms
By calvinnme HALL OF FAME on November 7, 2009
Format: Hardcover
An algorithm is nothing more than a set of computational steps that transform a specific input into a desired output. From that definition, there are plenty of books on the market that are "cookbooks" of algorithms and will enable you to do just that - transform specific inputs into outputs, complete with source code, and with no real depth of understanding of your own required. However, to be a computer scientist versus a programmer, you need to know what makes an efficient algorithm, why is a particular algorithm efficient, what kinds of common data structures are involved in various computing problems, how to traverse those data structures efficiently, and a notation for analyzing various algorithms. This book will help you learn all of that. The study of the theory of algorithms is not to be undertaken lightly, and I don't recommend you attempt to self-study such a complex subject with such strong mathematical underpinnings. In fact, this book is really aimed at graduate computer science students and is often on the reading list of Ph.D. qualifying examinations in that field.

For students of graph theory, you might find your knowledge solidly supplemented by the material in chapters 22 through 26 on graph algorithms. The last section of the book, "Selected Topics", goes over various specific algorithms from many fields using the knowledge of algorithm design and analysis you have learned up to this point in the book. Throughout, the text is very clear, and there are plenty of instructive diagrams and pseudocode.

One of the most interesting parts of the book is the chapter on NP-completeness. This is the study of problems for which no efficient algorithm has ever been found. These problems are interesting for two reasons.Read more ›
10 Comments 169 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsComplete, thorough...
By A Customer on August 3, 1999
Format: Hardcover
Quote from a previous review:
Instead of touching on new technologies, such as AI, graphics, or anything else remotely relevant to today's demands on programmers and designers, this book, faithful to its MIT roots, gives a pompous, eggheaded distortion to the field of computers as a whole. Its focus is mainly on such trivialities as algorithm analysis, offering about 10 pages of proofs for each simple assertion. The points that the authors hope to make have no relevance whatsoever in a world in which processor power, not meticulous code optimization, reigns.
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I've had Cormen (one of the authors) as a professor in class, and my algorithms class uses this book, so admittedly my view might be a bit biased. But if you read the above (quoted) review, you might have gotten the wrong impression about this book. Cormen et. al. *intentionally* left "AI and graphics" algorithms to other authors; this isn't the place to cover those topics enough to do them justice. And as someone who has actually read the book, each proof is *not* 10 pages long. The examples are usually quite good, and concisely (if thoroughly explained). Finally, prof. Cormen always explains to his intro CS students why the study of algorithms is important, even as computers get faster and faster: some problems, poorly implemented, just *will not* run as well on a machine of today compared to a much older machine running a better algorithm. There will *always* be a justified place for the study and analysis of algorithms. Had the previous reviewer actually had met Prof. Cormen, he wouldn't be able to write the book off with the title of "pompous" or "eggheaded" either...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

The book was as good as new! Not hard bound but otherwise everything is perfect.

Published 7 days ago by Sarah S.
5.0 out of 5 starsComplex, but serves as an excellent reference.

A great book to have as a reference on Algorithms. Includes pseudo-code for nearly all types of complex data structures that you may want to implement yourself. Read more

Published 9 days ago by vee
4.0 out of 5 starsText is pretty good but has pedagogical weaknesses

I think this is a pretty good book that is easy to read if you have a strong background in proof-based math. Read more

Published 10 days ago by Ben Bitdiddle
5.0 out of 5 starsAll good.

I expected. All good.

Published 12 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Excellent!

Published 15 days ago by Luis Salazar
3.0 out of 5 starsA very cheap book.

The biggest difference between the international edition and the normal edition is how cheap it is, and man, my copy looked cheap. Read more

Published 17 days ago by YoYo
1.0 out of 5 starsThe paperback is printed on a poor quality paper

On this copy it clearly says that this should only be sold in some South Asian countries, however, the seller is selling it in US, which is clear violation. Read more

Published 18 days ago by Minnesota Sky
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

It is good.

Published 18 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

It's an Indian reprint version. I've ever known it before I got the book.

Published 19 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsRecommended

The book was in good condition. Worth a buy.

Published 19 days ago by Manish Jaisinghani

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