Product Description

As an introduction to discrete mathematics, this text provides a straightforward overview of the range of mathematical techniques available to students. Assuming very little prior knowledge, and with the minimum of technical complication, it gives an account of the foundations of modern mathematics: logic; sets; relations and functions. It then develops these ideas in the context of three particular topics: combinatorics (the mathematics of counting); probability (the mathematics of chance) and graph theory (the mathematics of connections in networks).

Worked examples and graded exercises are used throughout to develop ideas and concepts. The format of this book is such that it can be easily used as the basis for a complete modular course in discrete mathematics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #317944 in Books
• Published on: 1995-09-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

A concise, gentle read which provokes thought and enlightens
I have just finished reading the book; Discrete Mathematics by A Chetwynd and P Diggle, for
the second time in less than 2 weeks, I covered it the second time in approximately two
days, in that I started yesterday and finished today. I am mentioning this so you can get
an idea of how suited I am to giving an objective opinion of the book. The series preface at
the beginning of the book says that the first level texts assume "only the A Level core
curriculum". I did not do A Level mathematics but have had experience with a little higher
level mathematics due to personal research. I bought the book to learn the mathematics for
my Computer Science degree's maths and logic course, which, the test for is tomorrow (when
this was written).

I found the book quite an easy read the first time round although I struggled with some of
the probability section so skipped about 3 pages, the second time I read it I managed to
comprehend that section, I might read those three pages again so I can truly say I have read
the whole book twice.

The book takes the approach of illustrating each concept with a series of worked examples
which is quite useful, it also enables one to try to work out the solution before checking the
answer, which is always fun. Most of the concepts are explained quite clearly, however, some
of the sections caused me to have to think a lot about the material before I could fully
comprehend it and occasionally required me to use my intuition and draw my own inferences.
Of course, the second time round, most of the material seemed easier.

Each section is finished off with a selection of mathematical problems relating to the
material just covered as well as a couple of 'projects' which invite the reader to
investigate specified areas in more depth, these looked quite interesting and those I took
the time browse provoked thought. I did not actually commit myself to up-taking any of
these challenges as I didn't have time but if I had the time I am sure it would be good fun.

The most disappointing thing about the book is the fact that the end-of-section questions
do not come with corresponding answers which is a sour letdown when it comes to revision and
application of the material learned. If I expend effort on answering questions I expect to
be able to refine my skills by checking the answers and when I get them wrong, reverse
engineer the route to success if possible. Sometimes the book went a bit over the top on
simple subjects and not into enough detail on the more complex.

Something I noticed about the book was that you could see that the author's had made great
effort to make sure they were 'politically correct', this caused some of the sentences to
seem very engineered. A positive point about the book is that it has illustrations of great
mathematicians and provides a little insight into the history of the problems discussed, I
enjoyed this very much.

On the whole, the book is interesting, well written and has been carefully considered, the
main thing that lets it down is the lack of answers to the end-of-section questions.