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This fall I will be teaching the required "Discrete Math for CS course" to about fifty students at the University of South Carolina. Previously I used Epp's boo

This fall I will be teaching the required "Discrete Math for CS course" to about fifty students at the University of South Carolina. Previously I used Epp's book [1] which in my opinion is an outstanding book but regrettably is $280.44. Many of our students are working minimum wage jobs to make ends meet, and I don't want to make them pay so much if I can at all help it. Lucky I saw this!! I do have one reservation though -- many of our students come in with a weaker mathematical background than MIT students; for example we spent several weeks doing proofs by induction (and no other kinds of proofs) and this text doesn't seem to feature a couple of weeks worth of examples. I think I'll probably go with this and supplement as needed. Really it looks quite wonderful. (And hell, the book seems to be open source which would mean that I could potentially write supplmentary material directly into the book and make my version available publicly as well.) This thread seems like a particularly good place to solicit advice: experiences with this book or others, what you wished you'd learned in your own undergraduate course on this subject, etc. I've taught this course once before -- I feel I did quite well but I still have room to improve. Thanks! [1] https://www.amazon.com/Discrete-Mathematics-Applications-Susanna-Epp/dp/0495391328/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488775608&sr=8-1&keywords=epp+discrete+mathematics https://www.amazon.com/Discrete-Mathematics-Applications-Sus...

llzes 10y ago
You're the type of professor everyone wishes they had. That's so phenomenal you're looking out for your students like this. That and if you end up writing supplementary material for the book.
- Sean1708 10y ago
  Is it an American thing to force your students to buy textbooks? In Britain (at least at the universities that I know about) there tends to be 2 or 3 recommended texts, of which the library will have several copies, and they're meant for reference when you get stuck rather than learning the entire course.
  - reducesuffering 10y ago
    At UC Irvine, almost all CS classes have either: free online textbooks, just suggested textbooks to help read along with the class, or a PDF that is widely distributed between students themselves. Most students end up never buying a $200 CS textbook
  - jinfiesto 10y ago
    Lots of instructors assign from books without reproducing the problems for students without books. Hence, it's typically required to have a book for a class. US University libraries will typically have copies of all textbooks used in any university class. Whether or not they have enough copies at any given time is another issue.
    - midwestcode 10y ago
      Also whether or not they have the updated edition with all questions... I ran into that problem with my Operating Systems course this semester, I was just going to scan the problems I needed, but then found out they were different since the book was 4 editions behind.
    - wazanator 10y ago
      It has been my experience that text books are available for checkout but only for two to three hours at a time. That way you can study there at the library and do your homework then return the book.
  - eximius 10y ago
    I had a fair number of classes I simply did not attend because the material was basically taught from the book, verbatim. Class was only needed if you didn't understand the book. I showed up to turn in the homework, get assigned the next set, and for exams.
  - clapinton 10y ago
    I got through 5 years of Engineering without buying a book. Between a bunch of copies of newer versions, some of older ones, some in English (this was in a Portuguese-speaking country) and some that couldn't be checked out from the library, there was always a copy available. That was one of the high points of the college I went to, and I sure as hell did not take it for granted.
sn9 10y ago
A Schaum's book can be a cheap supplement with lots of solved example problems. For proofs, you can find the free Book of Proof online [0]. It includes solutions to the odd exercises. Velleman's How to Prove It is also a great text, though not free. Regarding math pedagogy, I think this post might prove useful [1]. [0] http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ [1] https://bentilly.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-linear-algebra.html https://bentilly.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-linear-algebr...
pasbesoin 10y ago
$280??!! I knew prices were "high", but good grief! I guess I really am out of touch. Glad I held onto my vintage copy. Don't imagine the intervening 20-ish years have added circa $200 (at a guess) of value to the latest edition.
- chrisper 10y ago
  Yes. But why people buy books is what I don't understand. At least for college and if it's not something you want to own for the future. Throughout most of my semesters I just rented the books. Much cheaper than buying.
  - joepvd 10y ago
    It really is a shame that this is a rational solution. University text books should be material to get back to later in life, when confronted with a related problem. Part of university education should be a complete book shelf of well-understood books. This just exemplifies the new nature of university education: An ephemeral experience where the most durable result is debt /cynisism.
    - auggierose 10y ago
      I'd advise people just to get an iPad Pro and get electronic versions of these books. Makes for an eternal and ever growing bookshelf, and has been much cheaper to maintain than my previous physical library.
      - srean 10y ago
        That's the received wisdom, yeah. The party line etc etc. I am not so sure though. One has to factor in the possibility and ease of losing the device, or rights to the content that I have backed up on the cloud. Way too many people have the ability to intervene between me and the content. I appreciate the convenience of not having to move shit ton of bleached and pulped wood, but then I have to worry less about DRM, some raid in New Zealand, govt ordered deactivation of device, reading something that powers that be may not be to pleased about I would like to read what the fuck I want with less power on others to influence that.
dizzystar 10y ago
I'm not very mathematical, and I was much less mathematical when I worked that book (calc 1, not calc 2 yet, etc). I found it highly accessible and fun to work through. The concepts are all well-explained and I don't recall anything that would be out of reach for someone with some probability and foundations in classical logic. If they are at discrete math, this book is well withing their reach. It doesn't teach hard math per se, but how to think in a mathematical way, showing how to break apparently diabolical problems into manageable pieces, and how to reconsider the perspective of the problem, if that makes sense. The book is among the most mind-expanding books I've ever read. I'm fully autodidact and far from MIT pedigree.
- kayoone 10y ago
  I am interested in which book you are referring to, the Book on Amazon Op lined too or the MIT material linked in this thread ?
  - dizzystar 10y ago
    Book linked in the thread.
x0x0 10y ago
I waffle back and forth on my opinion of scihub and genlib, but ffs, $280 plus tax is simply theft. Don't forget the $90 student solutions manual!
mattmanser 10y ago
Honest question, why would you spend weeks doing proof by induction? Looking it up, I think I did that when I was 16, but I've never used it while programming. I can't see a single benefit to knowing it for programming. Been programming professionally for 12 years now. What am I missing? Why do you think it's important?
- popcorncolonel 10y ago
  It's helpful for truly understanding recursion.
  - mattmanser 10y ago
    If it's so useful for "truly" understanding it, why do I have to show so many CS educated juniors how to use recursion? Have to point out to them to use it instead of doing crazy nested loops or other stupid solutions to a problem simply solved using recursion? Given that I obviously don't "truly" understand it, having never done a CS degree. I'd posit that most CS students don't truly understand recursion, they just vaguely know the theoretical basis behind a practical skill they have no experience in.
    - markhkim 10y ago
      eh, I posit that you already understand induction and just don't know that you do. "So many CS educated juniors" being uncomfortable with recursion is not an argument against understanding mathematical induction. Who says they understood induction?
    - babygoat 10y ago
      You can get a CS degree without understanding induction, and you can understand induction without a CS degree.
    - data4science 10y ago
      I don't know which languages you and your CS educated juniors ("juniors") use. While "juniors" = employees subordinate to you & "so many "juniors"" = high turnover & you = positive senior employee & college educated graduates = smart: "posit that most CS students don't truly understand recusion" = False '''Smart, being distinct from intelligent, indicates a propensity to make decisions that maximize benefit for the person described as smart. A smart CS student would work for a company that valued intellectual capital instead of a company with high turnover.''' While "juniors" = employees subordinate to you & "so many "juniors"" = hyperbole & you = positive senior employee: "posit that most CS students don't truly understand recusion" = False '''It is dubious that more than 171.5k CS graduates worked subordinate to you from 2004-2010, or that an unbiased sample of CS graduates from 2004-2010 worked subordinate to you (see previous While "loop") [1] .''' The proof that the previous comment's posit is not provable follows by induction. Note_0: While loops can use "&" or "and" operators in some languages without nested loops (unless the programmer chooses to implement a break line) to achieve much of the effect of recursive functions. While statements, as implemented in the example above, offer nearly as much access to the input stack as recursive functions; about equal risk of an infinite loop; and don't risk stack overflow. Note_1: I have a bachelors in Math. So, I was likely taught a more substantial "theoretical basis," and less "practical skill" than the curriculum most CS graduates were taught. [1]: http://www.geekwire.com/2014/analysis-examining-computer-science-education-explosion/ http://www.geekwire.com/2014/analysis-examining-computer-sci...
dave1629 10y ago
I used this book for my course at the University of Virginia last semester, https://uvacs2102.github.io/ https://uvacs2102.github.io/. The book is terrific, and wonderful that it is available under a CC license. Most students found it accessible. We covered about Chapters 1-8 (and some things not in the book). (This is only the first part of the book, so a much slower pace than the MIT course. Some of this is to have more time for additional background and to go in depth in things, but also that our courses are scheduled with about 2/3 the amount of time per class as an MIT course is.
chrisweekly 10y ago
https://betterexplained.com/ https://betterexplained.com/ is hands-down the most transformative free resource for understanding math I've ever encountered.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
primodemus 10y ago
Buy older or used my friend: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/09/the_growing_cos.html http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/09/the... http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/12/the_unhealthy_p.html http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/12/the... https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0534359450/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0534359450/ref=dp_ol...
saycheese 10y ago
>> "the book appears open source" Yes, these are the terms of the license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode Webpage for the course is here: https://learning-modules.mit.edu/class/index.html?uuid=/course/6/sp17/6.042#dashboard https://learning-modules.mit.edu/class/index.html?uuid=/cour... That page includes an email contact for the course; (6042-gradesmaster@mit.edu). If you're planning to release an edit, I'd reach out as soon as possible to give them time to get back to you on if they'd be interested in working with you and the best way to do so, since you posting it randomly somewhere on the net would likely do less good in my opinion, but would be a huge help if done with them.
bogomipz 10y ago
I appreciate your practical comments. This particular caught my eye: >"Previously I used Epp's book [1] which in my opinion is an outstanding book but regrettably is $280.44." This is extortionate. What is the justification for a book being priced at nearly $300? This is one book of how many a student will need that semester? Are school's getting a piece of this as well? Is this why such a racket is permitted? Sorry I know its tangential to your original comment but I would be curios to hear anyone's feedback, especially someone from Europe or elsewhere. I wonder if this pricing is specific to the U.S.
- dboreham 10y ago
  Perhaps those of us who seek to make money from entrepreneurial activities should instead wonder at the business skills of people who are able to extract $300 from their customers for a book?
  - babygoat 10y ago
    "How can I get in on that extorting?"
- jcranmer 10y ago
  > This is extortionate. What is the justification for a book being priced at nearly $300? This is one book of how many a student will need that semester? Are school's getting a piece of this as well? Is this why such a racket is permitted? That is a bit high for textbooks, most textbooks are usually "only" in the realm of $80-160. That said, math textbooks are usually far more expensive than others. The excuse given for high prices is that there is a strong used book market for college textbooks, as most students sell off their textbooks at the end of the semester, so from the point of view of the publisher, they see only one sale in 5-20. Of course, publishers discovered that the "cure" for this is to release new editions of textbooks with minor updates (most importantly, reorder the questions in the question banks!) every few years to kill off the used textbook market and haven't lowered their exorbitant prices to compensate. As an undergrad, I did have one semester where my total book costs were about $1000. Most of the semesters, they were more like $500. Oh, and the prices usually go to lining the publishers' pockets. Not the authors', not the schools'.
jly 10y ago
The textbook prices are ridiculous. I buy a lot of textbooks for personal library/study, and I have found for 'classic' texts that have many editions, going back 2-3 revisions can be super cheap. I have purchased many used from Amazon in great condition for $5-10 that cost $100-200+ new in the latest edition. This might not work for a class, but it's been indispensable for my personal use.
mindcrime 10y ago
There are a number of freely available online resources for proofs & mathematical reasoning. Besides the already mentioned "Book of Proof", try: https://sites.google.com/site/mathematicalreasoning3ed/ https://sites.google.com/site/mathematicalreasoning3ed/ http://www.math.vt.edu/people/day/ProofsBook/ http://www.math.vt.edu/people/day/ProofsBook/ http://giam.southernct.edu/GIAM/ http://giam.southernct.edu/GIAM/ For anybody looking for freely available maths related texts online, three great resources are: http://aimath.org/textbooks/approved-textbooks/ http://aimath.org/textbooks/approved-textbooks/ http://web.archive.org/web/20170126161813/http://people.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html http://web.archive.org/web/20170126161813/http://people.math... http://www.openculture.com/free-math-textbooks http://www.openculture.com/free-math-textbooks
xenihn 10y ago
I'm a big fan of these books: https://minireference.com/ https://minireference.com/
bloodbeard 10y ago
impendia, I'm currently taking a discrete mathematics class that Applied Discrete Structures by Alan Doerr and Kenneth Levasseur (http://faculty.uml.edu/klevasseur/ads2/ http://faculty.uml.edu/klevasseur/ads2/). It's freely available, though I recommend steering away from the PDF on their site as it's got quite a few errors that are corrected in the source on Github.
trentmb 10y ago
Margaret M. Fleck at UIUC has one for their Discrete Math course: http://mfleck.cs.illinois.edu/building-blocks/ http://mfleck.cs.illinois.edu/building-blocks/
devnonymous 10y ago
> many of our students come in with a weaker mathematical background than MIT students; Maybe this would be a better first couple of weeks introduction: http://bookboon.com/en/gentle-introduction-to-mathematics-for-computer-ebook http://bookboon.com/en/gentle-introduction-to-mathematics-fo... More information about BookBoon: http://bookboon.com/blog/en/bookboon-com/our-mission-and-concept/ http://bookboon.com/blog/en/bookboon-com/about-the-concept-and-books/ Note, I have no affiliation with BookBoon, I've just found their textbooks/books very useful.

llzes 10y ago

You're the type of professor everyone wishes they had. That's so phenomenal you're looking out for your students like this. That and if you end up writing supplementary material for the book.

Sean1708 10y ago
Is it an American thing to force your students to buy textbooks? In Britain (at least at the universities that I know about) there tends to be 2 or 3 recommended texts, of which the library will have several copies, and they're meant for reference when you get stuck rather than learning the entire course.
- reducesuffering 10y ago
  At UC Irvine, almost all CS classes have either: free online textbooks, just suggested textbooks to help read along with the class, or a PDF that is widely distributed between students themselves. Most students end up never buying a $200 CS textbook
- jinfiesto 10y ago
  Lots of instructors assign from books without reproducing the problems for students without books. Hence, it's typically required to have a book for a class. US University libraries will typically have copies of all textbooks used in any university class. Whether or not they have enough copies at any given time is another issue.
  - midwestcode 10y ago
    Also whether or not they have the updated edition with all questions... I ran into that problem with my Operating Systems course this semester, I was just going to scan the problems I needed, but then found out they were different since the book was 4 editions behind.
  - wazanator 10y ago
    It has been my experience that text books are available for checkout but only for two to three hours at a time. That way you can study there at the library and do your homework then return the book.
- eximius 10y ago
  I had a fair number of classes I simply did not attend because the material was basically taught from the book, verbatim. Class was only needed if you didn't understand the book. I showed up to turn in the homework, get assigned the next set, and for exams.
- clapinton 10y ago
  I got through 5 years of Engineering without buying a book. Between a bunch of copies of newer versions, some of older ones, some in English (this was in a Portuguese-speaking country) and some that couldn't be checked out from the library, there was always a copy available. That was one of the high points of the college I went to, and I sure as hell did not take it for granted.

sn9 10y ago

A Schaum's book can be a cheap supplement with lots of solved example problems. For proofs, you can find the free Book of Proof online [0]. It includes solutions to the odd exercises. Velleman's How to Prove It is also a great text, though not free. Regarding math pedagogy, I think this post might prove useful [1]. [0] http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ [1] https://bentilly.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-linear-algebra.html https://bentilly.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-linear-algebr...

pasbesoin 10y ago

$280??!! I knew prices were "high", but good grief! I guess I really am out of touch. Glad I held onto my vintage copy. Don't imagine the intervening 20-ish years have added circa $200 (at a guess) of value to the latest edition.

chrisper 10y ago
Yes. But why people buy books is what I don't understand. At least for college and if it's not something you want to own for the future. Throughout most of my semesters I just rented the books. Much cheaper than buying.
- joepvd 10y ago
  It really is a shame that this is a rational solution. University text books should be material to get back to later in life, when confronted with a related problem. Part of university education should be a complete book shelf of well-understood books. This just exemplifies the new nature of university education: An ephemeral experience where the most durable result is debt /cynisism.
  - auggierose 10y ago
    I'd advise people just to get an iPad Pro and get electronic versions of these books. Makes for an eternal and ever growing bookshelf, and has been much cheaper to maintain than my previous physical library.
    - srean 10y ago
      That's the received wisdom, yeah. The party line etc etc. I am not so sure though. One has to factor in the possibility and ease of losing the device, or rights to the content that I have backed up on the cloud. Way too many people have the ability to intervene between me and the content. I appreciate the convenience of not having to move shit ton of bleached and pulped wood, but then I have to worry less about DRM, some raid in New Zealand, govt ordered deactivation of device, reading something that powers that be may not be to pleased about I would like to read what the fuck I want with less power on others to influence that.

dizzystar 10y ago

I'm not very mathematical, and I was much less mathematical when I worked that book (calc 1, not calc 2 yet, etc). I found it highly accessible and fun to work through. The concepts are all well-explained and I don't recall anything that would be out of reach for someone with some probability and foundations in classical logic. If they are at discrete math, this book is well withing their reach. It doesn't teach hard math per se, but how to think in a mathematical way, showing how to break apparently diabolical problems into manageable pieces, and how to reconsider the perspective of the problem, if that makes sense. The book is among the most mind-expanding books I've ever read. I'm fully autodidact and far from MIT pedigree.

kayoone 10y ago
I am interested in which book you are referring to, the Book on Amazon Op lined too or the MIT material linked in this thread ?
- dizzystar 10y ago
  Book linked in the thread.

x0x0 10y ago

I waffle back and forth on my opinion of scihub and genlib, but ffs, $280 plus tax is simply theft. Don't forget the $90 student solutions manual!

mattmanser 10y ago

Honest question, why would you spend weeks doing proof by induction? Looking it up, I think I did that when I was 16, but I've never used it while programming. I can't see a single benefit to knowing it for programming. Been programming professionally for 12 years now. What am I missing? Why do you think it's important?

popcorncolonel 10y ago
It's helpful for truly understanding recursion.
- mattmanser 10y ago
  If it's so useful for "truly" understanding it, why do I have to show so many CS educated juniors how to use recursion? Have to point out to them to use it instead of doing crazy nested loops or other stupid solutions to a problem simply solved using recursion? Given that I obviously don't "truly" understand it, having never done a CS degree. I'd posit that most CS students don't truly understand recursion, they just vaguely know the theoretical basis behind a practical skill they have no experience in.
  - markhkim 10y ago
    eh, I posit that you already understand induction and just don't know that you do. "So many CS educated juniors" being uncomfortable with recursion is not an argument against understanding mathematical induction. Who says they understood induction?
  - babygoat 10y ago
    You can get a CS degree without understanding induction, and you can understand induction without a CS degree.
  - data4science 10y ago
    I don't know which languages you and your CS educated juniors ("juniors") use. While "juniors" = employees subordinate to you & "so many "juniors"" = high turnover & you = positive senior employee & college educated graduates = smart: "posit that most CS students don't truly understand recusion" = False '''Smart, being distinct from intelligent, indicates a propensity to make decisions that maximize benefit for the person described as smart. A smart CS student would work for a company that valued intellectual capital instead of a company with high turnover.''' While "juniors" = employees subordinate to you & "so many "juniors"" = hyperbole & you = positive senior employee: "posit that most CS students don't truly understand recusion" = False '''It is dubious that more than 171.5k CS graduates worked subordinate to you from 2004-2010, or that an unbiased sample of CS graduates from 2004-2010 worked subordinate to you (see previous While "loop") [1] .''' The proof that the previous comment's posit is not provable follows by induction. Note_0: While loops can use "&" or "and" operators in some languages without nested loops (unless the programmer chooses to implement a break line) to achieve much of the effect of recursive functions. While statements, as implemented in the example above, offer nearly as much access to the input stack as recursive functions; about equal risk of an infinite loop; and don't risk stack overflow. Note_1: I have a bachelors in Math. So, I was likely taught a more substantial "theoretical basis," and less "practical skill" than the curriculum most CS graduates were taught. [1]: http://www.geekwire.com/2014/analysis-examining-computer-science-education-explosion/ http://www.geekwire.com/2014/analysis-examining-computer-sci...

dave1629 10y ago

I used this book for my course at the University of Virginia last semester, https://uvacs2102.github.io/ https://uvacs2102.github.io/. The book is terrific, and wonderful that it is available under a CC license. Most students found it accessible. We covered about Chapters 1-8 (and some things not in the book). (This is only the first part of the book, so a much slower pace than the MIT course. Some of this is to have more time for additional background and to go in depth in things, but also that our courses are scheduled with about 2/3 the amount of time per class as an MIT course is.

chrisweekly 10y ago

https://betterexplained.com/ https://betterexplained.com/ is hands-down the most transformative free resource for understanding math I've ever encountered.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

primodemus 10y ago

Buy older or used my friend: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/09/the_growing_cos.html http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/09/the... http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/12/the_unhealthy_p.html http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/12/the... https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0534359450/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0534359450/ref=dp_ol...

saycheese 10y ago

>> "the book appears open source" Yes, these are the terms of the license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode Webpage for the course is here: https://learning-modules.mit.edu/class/index.html?uuid=/course/6/sp17/6.042#dashboard https://learning-modules.mit.edu/class/index.html?uuid=/cour... That page includes an email contact for the course; (6042-gradesmaster@mit.edu). If you're planning to release an edit, I'd reach out as soon as possible to give them time to get back to you on if they'd be interested in working with you and the best way to do so, since you posting it randomly somewhere on the net would likely do less good in my opinion, but would be a huge help if done with them.

bogomipz 10y ago

I appreciate your practical comments. This particular caught my eye: >"Previously I used Epp's book [1] which in my opinion is an outstanding book but regrettably is $280.44." This is extortionate. What is the justification for a book being priced at nearly $300? This is one book of how many a student will need that semester? Are school's getting a piece of this as well? Is this why such a racket is permitted? Sorry I know its tangential to your original comment but I would be curios to hear anyone's feedback, especially someone from Europe or elsewhere. I wonder if this pricing is specific to the U.S.

dboreham 10y ago
Perhaps those of us who seek to make money from entrepreneurial activities should instead wonder at the business skills of people who are able to extract $300 from their customers for a book?
- babygoat 10y ago
  "How can I get in on that extorting?"
jcranmer 10y ago
> This is extortionate. What is the justification for a book being priced at nearly $300? This is one book of how many a student will need that semester? Are school's getting a piece of this as well? Is this why such a racket is permitted? That is a bit high for textbooks, most textbooks are usually "only" in the realm of $80-160. That said, math textbooks are usually far more expensive than others. The excuse given for high prices is that there is a strong used book market for college textbooks, as most students sell off their textbooks at the end of the semester, so from the point of view of the publisher, they see only one sale in 5-20. Of course, publishers discovered that the "cure" for this is to release new editions of textbooks with minor updates (most importantly, reorder the questions in the question banks!) every few years to kill off the used textbook market and haven't lowered their exorbitant prices to compensate. As an undergrad, I did have one semester where my total book costs were about $1000. Most of the semesters, they were more like $500. Oh, and the prices usually go to lining the publishers' pockets. Not the authors', not the schools'.

jly 10y ago

The textbook prices are ridiculous. I buy a lot of textbooks for personal library/study, and I have found for 'classic' texts that have many editions, going back 2-3 revisions can be super cheap. I have purchased many used from Amazon in great condition for $5-10 that cost $100-200+ new in the latest edition. This might not work for a class, but it's been indispensable for my personal use.

mindcrime 10y ago

There are a number of freely available online resources for proofs & mathematical reasoning. Besides the already mentioned "Book of Proof", try: https://sites.google.com/site/mathematicalreasoning3ed/ https://sites.google.com/site/mathematicalreasoning3ed/ http://www.math.vt.edu/people/day/ProofsBook/ http://www.math.vt.edu/people/day/ProofsBook/ http://giam.southernct.edu/GIAM/ http://giam.southernct.edu/GIAM/ For anybody looking for freely available maths related texts online, three great resources are: http://aimath.org/textbooks/approved-textbooks/ http://aimath.org/textbooks/approved-textbooks/ http://web.archive.org/web/20170126161813/http://people.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html http://web.archive.org/web/20170126161813/http://people.math... http://www.openculture.com/free-math-textbooks http://www.openculture.com/free-math-textbooks

xenihn 10y ago

I'm a big fan of these books: https://minireference.com/ https://minireference.com/

bloodbeard 10y ago

impendia, I'm currently taking a discrete mathematics class that Applied Discrete Structures by Alan Doerr and Kenneth Levasseur (http://faculty.uml.edu/klevasseur/ads2/ http://faculty.uml.edu/klevasseur/ads2/). It's freely available, though I recommend steering away from the PDF on their site as it's got quite a few errors that are corrected in the source on Github.

trentmb 10y ago

Margaret M. Fleck at UIUC has one for their Discrete Math course: http://mfleck.cs.illinois.edu/building-blocks/ http://mfleck.cs.illinois.edu/building-blocks/

devnonymous 10y ago

> many of our students come in with a weaker mathematical background than MIT students; Maybe this would be a better first couple of weeks introduction: http://bookboon.com/en/gentle-introduction-to-mathematics-for-computer-ebook http://bookboon.com/en/gentle-introduction-to-mathematics-fo... More information about BookBoon: http://bookboon.com/blog/en/bookboon-com/our-mission-and-concept/ http://bookboon.com/blog/en/bookboon-com/about-the-concept-and-books/ Note, I have no affiliation with BookBoon, I've just found their textbooks/books very useful.