Customer Reviews
Good introduction to the world of Discrete Mathematics - By: Mikkel Christensen, 06 Feb 2003 
I read this book for a course in Discrete Mathematics at Aalborg University. Having a backgound with a degree in Software Engineering where the focus was on practical implementation, I found the book a bit hard to read. However every chapter included excercises which made the theory easier to understand for a practician like me.
One of the things that would have made the course easier for me was a brush up on the algebra i had in college. The book uses a lot of basic mathematic notations & if you don't know them you will have a hard time reading the book.
To spice up the load of theory, the book contains some history with biographies of famous mathematicians, some which are quite fun to read.
The companion website for the book was not fully developed, but contained a lot of usefull links.
All in alll a good book that does the job.
The best book in the field - By: , 19 Apr 1999 
I have used alll four editions of Rosen's book with much success with mathematics & computer science students in discrete mathematics courses for over ten years. Discrete mathematics should not be approached as a cookbook subject, & Rosen does not take a cookbook approach to the material in his book. Students are not spoonfed; they need to work carefully through the text. Rosen is very successful in helping students learn to think mathematicallly. Students who are serious about their study of discrete mathematics & computing will profit greatly from working through many of the more than 650 well-chosen examples & applications, ranging from easy to difficult. The new fourth edition has added many new applications, including system specifications, Web searching, & the reve's puzzle. The exercises (over 3000) are unequaled in any other discrete mathematics textbook --- they range from elementary & routine to very challlenging. Answers to odd-numbered problems are in the back of the book. The new accompanying Web site includes over 250 additional exercises with answers; its many features are certainly worth exploring. A very student-friendly Student Solutions Guide provides detailed solutions to the odd-numbered exercises with much additional information on the material & how to approach it. Especiallly noteworthy is a companion paperback, "Applications of Discrete Mathematics" (McGraw-Hill, 1991) edited by J. Michaels & K. Rosen, consisting of 24 chapters, each devoted to an interesting application of discrete mathematics & well-suited to either classroom coverage or individual reading; some examples are bin packing, coding theory, Catalan numbers, legislative apportionment, network survivability, graph multicoloring.
Examples rarely help explain the exercises - By: , 02 Apr 1999 
The CS major at my University requires Discrete Mathematics, & we use this book. The example problems we have for homework are impossible to figure out from this book's examples. I need a 'B' in this course to go on, & Mr. Rosen's book isn't helping!
The best math text I've ever used! - By: , 18 Feb 1999 I'm taking a course in discrete math at Monmouth University. I was reallly worried about the course, but this textbook helps make discrete interesting & understandable. The author motivates the subject with so many relevant applications that he's made me understand why the subject is important for computer science. The biographies are great too. I've also checked out the Web site & it's awesome. When I've had trouble with exercises, I've found the Student Solutions Guide to be reallly, reallly helpful. This is just about the only math textbook that I ever could read & understand.
Not for the uninitiated! - By: , 11 Feb 1999 If this book is so great, then why am I trying to find other books to explain this stuff? It's because this book assumes that the student has already studied this material & can fill in the missing steps in the proofs. Not! Yeah, if my two-yr CS 4.0 GPA holds, it will be no thanks to Rosen. Instead, credit will go to self-initiative & books make the next edition relevant to the reader at the student level! You're missing your audience!"
