Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics: An Applied Introduction

I had the fortune to be educated in the ways of discrete mathematics by the author of this book. Dr. Grimaldi taught his class very well, and made the information within its pages stand out to the student. His enthusiasm for mathematics was very well balanced with his enthusiasm for teaching. Because of this fact, I am not sure if other teachers teaching the same material would get the same end result as I did. I graduated around the same time he published the fifth edition, so I never really saw it in print. My review pertains to the fourth.

Discrete mathematics is not to be confused with discreet mathematics (we don't usually talk about such...), but is instead a way to measure a discrete (that is, not continuous) event using various show more mathematical properties. Likewise, combinatorics is just a fancy-schmancy way of saying "counting." Of course, it's counting with style, where "style" here means neat mathematical tricks.

The book covers several topics ranging from an introduction to the main topics, to more advanced topics, such as graph theory and self-correcting codes. If you're like me, with an uncanny fascination for mathematics, you too would get enjoyment from reading this book and working on the exercises (fun fact: Grimaldi himself worked through each problem in the book, as opposed to having a teacher's aide do it, in order to generate the answer key). This book requires a strong understanding of mathematics and logic, perhaps at least an understanding of pre-calculus.

I'm sure I've said this before (but sometimes, I must repeat those things I find particularly witty), but the more advanced mathematics you learn, the less you deal with actual numbers. This book is yet another stepping stone to a world of mathematics devoid completely of those pesky numbers that only weigh you down.

I recommend this book for mathematicians and computer scientists alike. It's sure to be helpful to either profession. show less

Lots of content, and lots of exercises. It's a fifth edition, so it has stood the test of time and has relatively few errors or glaring flaws. But the writing is awful, and the presentation of somes topics makes me want to tear my hair out. For example, the sections on logic are really weak (although all true and accurate), and clearly the author prefers combinatorics. You could say its just a textbook and so its asking a lot to expect good, enthusiastic writing. But an unspired text is not going to inspire anyone!