Name: Discrete Mathematics with Applications
ISBN: 9780495391326

Discrete Mathematics with Applications

"Epp explains complex, abstract concepts with clarity and precision. This book presents not only the major themes of discrete mathematics, but also the reasoning that underlies mathematical thought. Students develop the ability to think abstractly as they study the ideas of logic and proof. While learning about such concepts as logic circuits and computer addition, algorithm analysis, recursive thinking, computability, automata, cryptography, and combinatorics, students discover that the ideas of discrete mathematics underlie and are essential to the science and technology of the computer age. Overall, Epp's emphasis on reasoning provides students with a strong foundation for computer science and upper-level mathematics courses."--Publisher.

What Hacker News says

AstroBenJan 2026

I looked into this book before and without solutions it makes it much harder to use for self-study. Maybe LLMs do change that now but I'm not sure I'd trust their output if I were learning the topic

Susanna Epp's Discrete Mathematics With Applications is also a really good option

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cdicelicoJan 2025

A loved AI: A Modern Approach—still the best all around textbook on AI imho. I'd only add Susanna Epp's Discrete Mathematics with Applications, and I'd just focus on methodically and thoroughly working through those two, personally. First, Discrete Mathematics, then AI: A Modern Approach. This is exactly what I did and it was a great experience, super helpful.

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codenlearnSep 2024

I will probably recommend csprimer, this is hands down one of the best introductions that I found and I recommended to a lot of people who reached out to me. The order I will probably recommend is the following

1. Programming: Beyond the basics

2. Computer Systems

3. Operating Systems

4. Algorithms and Data Structures

5. Computer Networks

This is going to take time but it will be worth your time.

For discrete Math I sincerely recommend you to take a look at this book "Discrete Mathematics with Applications by Susanna Epp. This is an excellent book and it has good problems.

I will also recommend you to look at https://fa24.datastructur.es/ this is a very good beginner course on data structures that is completely free by UC Berkeley

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elricAug 2024

Bit late to the party, but I can warmly recommend "Discrete mathematics with applications" by Susanna Epp. There are a couple of books with similar titles, but the ones by Epp are amazingly well written. An incredible amount of care and attention to detail went into this textbook, and it shows. Excellent for self study.

The Math Sorcerer did a video on an older edition, which is just a lovely ode to the book, the man is in love. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPr5-X9nZc4

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mindcrimeJan 2023

Maybe not "made me better at math" per-se, but definitely "made me more enthusiastic about math":

The Universe Speaks in Numbers[1] by Graham Farmelo

I found this very motivating and insightful, in terms of developing even more of an appreciation for how much math underpins other branches of science. Not that that is a novel insight by any means... but the details of the incidents where breakthroughs in mathematics allowed further advances in physics, etc. and looking at the "back and forth" between the domains, that was wildly interesting to me. Reading this book definitely helped motivate me to get serious about committing more time / focus to studying mathematics.

I also enjoyed the "counterpoint" book by Sabine Hosenfelder, Lost in Math[2]. I think these two books complement each other nicely.

Then the handful of additional (no pun intended) books that jump to mind would be:

- How Mathematicians Think by William Byers[3]

- How to Think Like a Mathematician by Kevin Houston[4]

- Discrete Mathematics with Applications[5] by Susanna Epp

- How Not To Be Wrong[6] by Jordan Ellenberg

- Introduction to Mathematical Thinking[7] by Keith Devlin

- How to Measure Anything[8] by Douglas Hubbard

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...

[2]: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Math-Beauty-Physics-Astray/dp/15...

[3]: https://www.amazon.com/How-Mathematicians-Think-Contradictio...

[4]: https://www.amazon.com/How-Think-Like-Mathematician-Undergra...