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Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications
Kenneth H. Rosen
Edition: 5
Retail Price (not our price): $155.50
ISBN: 0072930330
ISBN-13: 9780072930337
Publication Date: 2003-04-22
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 896


Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Product Description
Discrete Mathematics and its Applications is a focused introduction to the primary themes in a discrete mathematics course, as introduced through extensive applications, expansive discussion, and detailed exercise sets. These themes include mathematical reasoning, combinatorial analysis, discrete structures, algorithmic thinking, and enhanced problem-solving skills through modeling. Its intent is to demonstrate the relevance and practicality of discrete mathematics to all students. The Fifth Edition includes a more thorough and linear presentation of logic, proof types and proof writing, and mathematical reasoning. This enhanced coverage will provide students with a solid understanding of the material as it relates to their immediate field of study and other relevant subjects. The inclusion of applications and examples to key topics has been significantly addressed to add clarity to every subject. True to the Fourth Edition, the text-specific web site supplements the subject matter in meaningful ways, offering additional material for students and instructors. Discrete math is an active subject with new discoveries made every year. The continual growth and updates to the web site reflect the active nature of the topics being discussed. The book is appropriate for a one- or two-term introductory discrete mathematics course to be taken by students in a wide variety of majors, including computer science, mathematics, and engineering. College Algebra is the only explicit prerequisite.

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 3.0 out of 5

1) Alright for supplementary work... HORRIBLE as a primary...   [Rating: 2 out of 5]
I took an accelerated 6 week class on discrete math... and though I've never studied that hard (in my life) the class was very rewarding. My professor earned his PhD under Kolmogorov, and if you know that name then you'll know what I mean that it takes THAT level of a mathemetician in order to explain clearly what this text tries so hard to obfuscate.I'm a math enthusiast, so I also bought copies of Grimaldi's and Epp's Discrete Math texts, and for this class I also needed to borrow copies of number theory texts for the section on number theory, logic texts for logic, etc. It's kinda sad in the state of things that one has to go to outside sources for so many of these topics... but Rosen makes you do it.My issues on logic: They don't explicitly tell you that a function P(x,y) holds only for objects placed into the function. There is a problem in the section of nested quantifiers where the function is given as P(x,y) but then the solution uses x and y for something totally different. The book leads you to believe that P(x,y) means "property P holds for 'x' and 'y'" but with a function the property is static and the letters are dynamic. The book explains functions from the perspective that if you see P(x,y) then that property holds for x and y, and the specific problem I'm talking about will lead you astray when applying the logical construction; textbooks should be clear enough that the student doesn't have to go to the teacher on simple concepts like thisMy issues truly began in Chapter 3. The pseudo code they use is loosely documented and assumes the reader already knows some programming because the entire section on algorithms was greek to me until a study partner who is a programmer by living gave me a quick crash course in programming that clarified what was going on in each step. The section on Big-O notation could have been simplified if the author simply said "we need to create a function that will be bigger than what is stated, and define 'k' as the beginning value where this is true and 'C' is the total sum of the coefficients that also guarantees this." The book takes a 5-6 page approach that buries this simple concept into obtuse mathematical jargon. I can't stress enough how bad the book covers this. (Epp's text with depictions of graphs that explicitly state the difference between Big-O, Big Omega, and Big-Theta was valuable to clarify this topic.)Number theory is covered haphazardly, introducing div and mod before discussing the nature of numbers and primes. Div and mod are absolutely essential to number theory but the order of presentation serves only to confuse students. I grabbed a number theory book, "Elementary Number Theory" by David M. Burton and that text covers number theory in a much less confusing light than Rosen's text. (These books should all be in your school's library.)Another book, suggested by my Professor, was Polya's "How to Solve it." This book locks you into the kind of thinking you need to be doing to handle proofs (and other types of problems.)In short, if you're REALLY good on your mathematics... like you got > 4.0 in high school you might find my observations wrong. But if you are coming from the other direction, and are rising up to that level... this book just doesn't get you there without a TON of outside help. I suppose if nothing else, this book taught me how to use my library for supplementary materials as not a single chapter went by without a need to find things outside of the text.

2) The author is difficult to follow   [Rating: 1 out of 5]
I would NOT reccoment this text for anyone that is returning to school after being away for any length of time. It is the reccomended text of the class I am currently taking, over half of the students are having difficulties with this book and are purchasing additional text to supplement the lessons.

3) Great buy   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Purchased for computer science course since it was required. Great price, good book.

4) A good book   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I like this book and use it for teaching my students. As a teacher, you have the opportunity to select similar problems for class activity and homework assignment. Also, you can find not only simple and middle-level problems but also high-level problems to provide a good source for active students. Unfortunately, the author uses the letters "F" and "T" in the truth tables instead of much easier and perspective "0" and "1", which correspond to the real needs, e.g., in computer science. That's the most essential lack, which I've found by this time.

5) This book is interesting   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
I like the exclamations and the concepts/problem solving this book teaches. Maybe I am being swayed by the subject because I enjoy it, however, in comparison to other math books, this one livens it up and is a higher then the average mathematics book.