Concrete Mathematics
The book Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science by Ronald L. Graham , Donald E. Knuth and Oren Patashnik is considered one of the standard works in university computer science .
Content and story
The work provides the mathematical background that is required for the analysis of algorithms . While some of the book's topics can also be found in the classical literature on discrete mathematics , the authors had a unique approach to the matter: They explain in the preface that concrete mathematics is a mixture of continuous and discrete mathematics (“a blend of CONtinuous and disCRETE mathematics ”). Calculus is often used in explanations and exercises . The expression concrete also serves to distinguish it from abstract mathematics.
The book is based on a course that Knuth held at Stanford in 1970 . It extends the introductory mathematics chapter in Knuth's well-known series The Art of Computer Programming .
Concrete Mathematics stands out for its casual, funny style. The authors reject the supposedly dry style of most mathematics textbooks, for example the margins contain “mathematical graffiti ”: the comments of the first editors of the text and of Knuth and Patashnik's students at Stanford.
As with all of Knuth's works, readers are invited to report errors in the book for a reward, whether they are “technically, historically, typographically or politically incorrect”.
typography
Donald Knuth used the first edition of Concrete Mathematics as a test for the AMS Euler and Concrete Roman fonts .
expenditure
- 1st edition: September 1988 ( ISBN 0-201-14236-8 )
- 2nd edition: January 1994 ( ISBN 0-201-55802-5 )
Individual evidence
- ^ Graham, Knuth, and Patashnik: Concrete Mathematics
- ↑ Donald E. Knuth. Typesetting Concrete Mathematics , TUGboat 10 (1989), 31-36, 342. Reprinted as Chapter 18 of the book Digital Typography .