Discrete Mathematics | 
 enlarge | Authors: John A. Dossey, Albert D. Otto, Lawrence E. Spence, Charles Vanden Eynden
Publisher: Pearson Education
Category: Book
Buy Used: $40.00
Used (5) from $40.00
Rating:  9 reviews
Format: Import
Media: Paperback
Edition: 5
Pages: 688
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0321383281
EAN: 9780321383280
Publication Date: November 9, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Not recommeded: Difficult & No errata September 30, 2008
G (US)
A good text book should have clear and concise definitions throughout the book or at least a glossary. However, this book has neither. Examples are either vague or contorted. Visual cues would have been helpful.
Even though it shows the answers for odd numbered exercises, some of the answers have errors. I also bought the solutions manual, (with only odd numbered solutions), but it also has errors and/or it doesn't match some of the books answers. I expected to find something useful in the solutions manual, as I paid $25 for it, but I didn't. I have found no errata for this book.
I had to buy it because it was my course's book, but I definitely do not recommend it. Whoever said that this was a good, easy-to-read book, must have been reading another book. I had to have a math professor tutoring me for my online course and even he had a hard time reading the book.
Wikipedia has much better explanations!
Layman's Terms Please May 19, 2008
Sherwin M. Cuison (New Jersey)
Discrete Mathematics is one of the toughest math courses I have ever taken. I am currently taking this math course via an online university and it is very difficult to understand and keep track of what is trying to be taught. There are not enough examples or the examples may be based on an easy problem, then the book expects you to solve very difficult problems. Also, layman's terms please!!!!
 Review of Discrete Mathematics (4th Edition) March 21, 2006
lone73 (Texas)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I used this book for a sophomore level Discrete Math class in the CS program at Park university. It was pretty difficult to understand for everybody in the class including myself and I've had math through Calc III. It was apparently not written for that level student.
No logic, few proofs makes it inappropriate as a textbook June 25, 2004
Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States(cashbacher@yahoo.com))
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
If you are looking for a book for a course in discrete mathematics where the emphasis is on graph theory, then this book will probably satisfy your needs. However, for any other type of course, it will most certainly prove to be inadequate. Nearly half the book is devoted to graph theory, and while many theorems are listed, very few are proven. The working computer scientist may find that acceptable, but most mathematicians will find it inadequate. Logic and the basics of proof are relegated to an appendix.
The first chapter covers some combinatorics and the basics of algorithmic analysis, which is meant to be a primer. However, it requires the use of set terminology, set notation and basic counting techniques. Since set theory is covered in chapter 2 and counting techniques in chapter 7, I consider the order to be inappropriate. Recurrence relations, circuits and finite state machines are also covered in other chapters.
There are a large number of exercises and the solutions to the odd numbered ones are included. Sets of problems to be solved by programming a computer are given at the end of each chapter, some of which are easy, but many of which are hard. Only students who have had a programming course could be expected to be able to do any of them without significant help.
This is a book that does not satisfy my requirements for a discrete mathematics textbook. I consider logic to be a critical topic that must be covered, so I will not consider using any book where predicate and propositional logic are not covered in depth. While I do not expect my students to construct rigorous proofs, I do expect them to be able to construct simple proofs and follow some of the relevant more complicated ones.
Inadequate for a textbook March 8, 2004
Seungwoo Hwang (Albany, NY USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
While this book by Dossey may serve as a self-teaching book for surveying topics in discrete mathematics, it is not thorough enough even for an introductory course, thus inadequate for a textbook. FYI, I am currently taking a discrete mathematics course using a popular textbook "Discrete mathematics and its applications" by Rosen.The most basic foundation of discrete mathematics is logic and proof. This part is found in the very first chapter of Rosen book. On the contrary, Dossey book covers that part in the appendix! While one may read the appendix first, doing so is still not helpful because all the proof in this book are not based on the arguments in the appendix. Also, the appendix does not cover quantifier at all. As a result, one cannot build a concrete foundation, and without it, your understanding of discrete mathematics will not go far. I do not like all aspects of Rosen book (there are some issues, as can be seen from its review), nor I like books with high level of mathematical sophistication, but I am glad that my instructor did not choose this Dossey book as a textbook. Also, its price is too high for its relatively slim volume.
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