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Discrete Mathematics with Graph Theory (3rd Edition) |  | Authors: Edgar G. Goodaire, Michael M. Parmenter
Publisher: Prentice Hall
List Price: $128.00
Buy Used: $55.38
as of 3/21/2010 12:22 CDT details
You Save: $72.62 (57%)
New (24) Used (33) from $55.38
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 277183
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 3
Pages: 592
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 8 x 1.1
ISBN: 0131679953
Dewey Decimal Number: 510
EAN: 9780131679955
ASIN: 0131679953
Publication Date: July 4, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Far more "user friendly" than the vast majority of similar books, this volume is truly written with the unsophisticated reader in mind. The pace is leisurely, but the authors are rigorous and maintain a serious attitude towards theorem proving throughout. Emphasizes "Active Reading" throughout, a skill vital to success in learning how to write proofs. Offers two sections on probability (2.4 and 2.5). Moves material on depth-first search, which previously comprised an entire (very short) chapter, to an earlier chapter where it fits more naturally. Rewrites section on RNA chains to include a new (and easier) algorithm for the recovery of an RNA chain from its complete enzyme digest. Provides true/false questions (with all answers in the back of the book) in every section. Features an appendix on matrices. A useful reference for mathematics enthusiasts who want to learn how to write proofs.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 Horrible!!!! January 18, 2010
Mark A. Ivey
The concepts taught in this is fairly straight forward, but the Author makes every attempt to confuse and make it difficult. I have never seen such a horrible math book in all of my years as a student. I'll break down a typical chapter:
Chapter organization (i.e. are the topics covered related?): Pretty good as as whole. Each topic is introduced bit by bit and the flow from one section to the next makes sense.
Each individual section:
Each section and chapters too, are prefaced with some nonsensical garbage that kind of relates to the chapter; sometimes it's some stupid fictional story the author wish would happen with his fictitious friends, and other times it would be a situation that could maybe might happen in real life, assuming you're a total loser, and have nothing better to do than to count things. Or maybe you're the count, from Sesame Street. I don't know, whatever.
Then the author introduces the concept, and makes it has hard as possible to get and understand.
After that, he has 'Pauses' where you're suppose to suddenly understand what he's suppose to be teaching you. These pauses make no sense, and might as well be at the end of the chapter or section.
The book does do a decent job in highlighting key concepts and definitions, but I still find some important information and key concepts buried deep in some example.
After that, you may still be wondering why this book is not even worth 1 star. This is why:
Proofs are INSANELY hard to flow.
Examples are also INSANELY hard to flow.
That's because the author thought it would be best solve the problem as if he's talking you through it. The only way he can do this is by putting the BOTH proofs AND examples in a paragraph INSTEAD of showing the steps LINE BY LINE. Every good math book worth its salt has the examples shown clearly line by line. They may never show every obvious step they make, but it's at least easy to see what you understand and what you don't understand. This book uses one paragraph to explain the answer. And it's not even a long paragraph. So this MATH book ends up being a wall of text. Most of the symbols are just bold alphabet charaters, so it makes it even harder to find what you're looking for and follow the text.
What broke the straw on the camels back is the fact that his text is setup like this: (periods added for clarity)
Example 11: BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
............BLAH BLAH BLAH
............_______________
............ Problem 12: Stupid problem here.
I am not sure what the difference is between Example and Problem, but he uses PROBLEM to describe an example and exercise to describe the problems you're suppose to work out. Then occasionally he will have an 'exercise' refeer to a 'problem' and you looking at the wrong thing for five minutes before you realize. Also he will do this:
problem 12 blah blah blah sets up problem whatever.
...refeer to exercise 32 for more.
Of course, the exercise doesn't have the answer, and they just say 'work problem 12 blah blah'. But then puts the answer in the back of the book.
Overall this book is extremely terrible, and you should shame your professor if he tells you to buy this god awful book. If your professor tells you to buy this book, then he probably also sucks at teaching the material, and I would strongly consider dropping the class.
 Not the best book for Discrete Mathematics December 25, 2008
Nitesh Kumar (MN , USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have used this book for my Discrete Math class.
Pros: Has a lot of Exercises to work on. Pretty Advanced style of Explanation.If you have a good professor this book will help.
Cons: If you are just starting to learn Discrete Math, this is not the book for you. The examples and the explanation are pretty advance sort .
It is hard to understand Discrete Math by reading this book only .So if you are depending on your self i would suggest you look for a different book.
Gerry September 27, 2008
Geraldine A. Walker (USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is the worse math textbook I have ever encountered. There is not enough explanation regarding the theory and the examples are not helpful. The exercises in each chapter can not be referred back to the chapter reading at all. The chapter pages are structured to save paper. Everything is jammed together. I am currently taking the course and between the instructor and the book little knowledge is being passed to the less than ten people in the class. This book should NEVER be used!
 Accessible, Friendly September 23, 2008
Alethio Grapher (Denver, CO USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm currently taking a Discrete Math class with this textbook. I don't have any background in the subject, and my theoretical math background is limited to a Proofs course and a Non-Euclidan Geometry class. (Other than that I have the usual amount of undergraduate calculus and so on.)
I think this book is fantastic. It is written in an engagingly casual style, and it uses a lot of examples and detail to work out the material. The other theoretical math texts I've used really don't do this - they expect you to treat their material more as hints to do your own work, which can be really hard for students (and is why you have a professor, after all).
I can't address how well this book actually covers the various topics of discrete math, since I only know what I've learned in the course so far, but I'm very impressed with how well it spells things out. It's not exactly "light reading" (it's not Discrete Math for Dummies) but it is quite accessible.
Discrete? More like hidden and vague... March 7, 2008
Emily Secrest (Beaverton, OR)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I do not recommend this book. While yes, it provides clearly marked definitions and formulas, when giving examples, the work shown leaves out some key steps that leave the reader grasping into thin air trying to figure out the method to their madness. Some exercise questions are vaguely written, leaving the student to interpret the meaning, which may result in differing answers.
If you have a teacher who uses this book, get it. Otherwise, if you are teaching yourself (or just have that bad of a teacher), either pass on buying this book or buy a supplement. Or find a good math tutor, you'll need it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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