Reviews (1)

Comprehensive and Understandable
This book is aimed at researchers in Economics and multiagent systems who want to know about the latest research in combinatorial auctions---a field which has seen a lot of advances in the last decade. I found the book to be very accessible. Many of the chapters present summaries of recent work, bringing together in one place theorems and algorithms that have been published in different conferences. These summaries are a great way to learn all there is to know about combinatorial auctions without having to wade thru complex proofs or hard to read presentations. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Auctions    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Science    5. Computers    6. Industries - Retailing    7. Combinatorics & graph theory    8. Computer modelling & simulation    9. Computers / Computer Science    10. Retail sector   

Subjects:  1. Combinatorial optimization    2. Graph theory    3. Graphic Methods    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Differential equations    7. Mathematics / Combinatorics    8. algorithms    9. complexity theory    10. graph    11. optimzation    12. theory   

Reviews (6)

Designers beware
Not for designers. Dull and boring and possibly good for the corporate puppet, but not for creatives. Stick with the Edward Tufte books for real information on graphs and charts and communicating effectively through these mediums.
Grossly Overrated & Ignorant of Color
Robbin's book has been grossly over-rated. The first major negative is that there is no discussion of the use of color and no use of color in the book. For a book on effective graphs, it is criminal not to use or cover the impact color - there is no excuse. The second major negative is that this book is little more than a set of graphs on one page followed by a brief one or two paragraph discussion. My criticism here is that there is too little discussion about when to use these graphs or common design flaws when they are used. Business users should be warned that most of the graphs covered in this book were created using the S+ programming language and software and many are not applicable to typical business graphing needs. Finally, the book is excessively overpriced for what it provides. Stephen Few's "Information Dashboard Design" and "Show Me the Numbers" books are both half the price and have 10X better content.

Excellent Book on Charting - Good Investment
This is a great book for those who really want to make their charts/graphs more effective. Robbins' discussion on visual perception helped me understand why pie charts and stacked bar charts are such poor communication tools. Her dot plot examples convinced me to start using them even though Excel doesn't provide a dot plot chart type. I made my own.
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Graphic methods    3. Mathematics    4. Probability & Statistics - General    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Statistics    7. Business mathematics    8. Combinatorics & graph theory    9. Mathematics / General   

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Combinatorial Analysis    3. Combinatorics    4. Computer Science    5. Congresses    6. Discrete Mathematics    7. General    8. Mathematics    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Algebra    11. Combinatorics & graph theory    12. Mathematics / Discrete Mathematics    13. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    14. algorithms   

Subjects:  1. Combinatorial optimization    2. Computer Science    3. Discrete Mathematics    4. Linear Programming    5. Mathematics    6. Optimization (Mathematical Theory)    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Combinatorics & graph theory    9. Computers-Computer Science    10. Mathematics / Discrete Mathematics    11. Mathematics / Linear Programming    12. Mathematics-Discrete Mathematics    13. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (2)

Written by a Master in the Field
This is the second book by Dr. Bollobas that I have read, and it is clear, that Dr. Bollobas is a master in the field.
For percolation thresholds?
The book can be of interest to those researchers studying such topics as percolation thresholds for conducting material distributed in a non-conducting matrix. The conducting material is assumed to be distributed in some random sense. And a general question might be what minimum average concentration will lead to a graph (or cluster) with a spatial extent comparable to the entire sample. The chapter on the diameter of graphs may lead to insight on this issue.
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Subjects:  1. Combinatorics    2. General    3. Graphic Methods    4. Mathematics    5. Random graphs    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Combinatorics & graph theory    8. Mathematics / Probability   

Subjects:  1. Combinatorics    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. General    7. Graph Theory    8. Graphic Methods    9. Mathematics    10. Combinatorics & graph theory    11. Computers / Computer Science    12. Computers-Computer Graphics - General    13. Discrete Mathematics    14. Drawing Graphs    15. Graph Algorithms    16. Graph Design    17. Graph Drawing    18. Graph Editing    19. Graph Layout    20. Graphical Data Analysis    21. Graphics    22. Map Labeling    23. Mathematics / Graphic Methods    24. Medical-General    25. Visualization   

Reviews (2)

comprehensive
This text consists purely of exercises and solutions. This seems like a difficult way to learn combinatorics (or any mathematics for that matter) but it is surprisingly effective. Lovasz starts off with simple problems that anyone can solve and quickly moves to more advanced problems. Lovasz's text covers more material than any other introductory combinatorics text I've seen. Superb exposition of combinatorics via problems
This problem book will take the reader from a novice to an expert in the emerging area of discrete mathematics. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Combinatorics    2. Discrete Mathematics    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Combinatorics & graph theory    6. Mathematical foundations    7. Mathematics / Discrete Mathematics   

Subjects:  1. Combinatorics    2. Computer science    3. Discrete Mathematics    4. Discrete Mathematics (Computer Science)    5. Graphic Methods    6. Mathematics    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Graph Theory    9. Mathematics / Discrete Mathematics    10. Mathematics / Logic    11. Probability and Statistics    12. Set Theory   

Reviews (1)

A Panorama of Geometric Mini-Max Facts
This work as well as all other works of Prof. Andreescu is a math GEM; contains a panorama of minima and maxima problems,facts, and methods in geometry: Malfatti's Problems, Geometric Transformations, Algebraic Inequalities, Calculus Method of Partial Varitation and Tangency Principle, Polygons in a Square, Broken Lines, Distribution of Points, Coverings, and much more.
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Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Discrete Mathematics    3. Geometry - General    4. Mathematical Analysis    5. Mathematics    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Combinatorics & graph theory    8. Euclidean geometry    9. Mathematics / Geometry / General   

Reviews (1)

Written by a Mathematician Not a Teacher
I was curious about the content of this book.All I had to do was read the first two pages.Good grief, no wonder kids hate math.I became a math teacher because of all the lousy math teachers I had to indure in high school ( and yes, then in college!)-- We have got to get rid of these "nerds" they suck all the joy out of the subject.Yes, I said JOY.I have always loved math and found it fun and exciting and that is the way I have tried to teach is for the last 30 years.You will find no joy in this book.I would like to ask these authors what is the equation for JOY?(They probably just would not get what I meant. -- I am rolling my eyes.) ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Artificial intelligence    3. Combinatorics    4. Computational linguistics    5. Computer Books: General    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. Discrete Mathematics    9. Natural Language Processing (Computer Science)    10. Natural language processing (C    11. Probability & Statistics - General    12. Testing & Measurement    13. Cognitive Science    14. Combinatorics & graph theory    15. Computers / Artificial Intelligence    16. Educational Technology    17. Mathematical Psychology   

Editorial Review

Douglas R. Stinson's Read more

Reviews (14)

Good book after Schneier's Non-Mathematical Treatment
If you are an engineer trying to learn crypto, maybe get a book on number theory to go with this book. It'd be nice if there were fewer errors and more worked out problems, as well.
Volume III ofthe Definitive Work
This book takes a fairly rigorous mathematical approach to cryptography. It is intended for upper level undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics, computer science and engineering. I suspect only the quite mathematically inclined computer science and engineering students will find this book helpful. This is not a Boy Scout how to do secret messages book, but a book that will give the professional the data needed to implement cryptographic software, and the mathematician hints on both code breaking and creating.
Could be a great book .... but it falls short
As other people have pointed out, this is not a mathematics book, and it is not an algorithm (recipies) book. It could be a great book for people that are interested in learning these tools to actually use them, either in a research or product development context (something besides homework). Unfortunately, the number of typos, in key mathematical expressions AND PORTIONS OF THE EXPLANATIONS is staggering. Go to the author's web page and you will find that some chapters, like 4 for example, average more than one typo per page (and some of these 'typos' are full sentences, or math expressions that do not look like anything that is actually printed on the page). If you do not have that errata sheet handy, you will waste a lot of time trying to understand the text, or trying to solve the exercises. If you are trying to learn from this book, without attending a class and without the errata, you will simply give up. It is a real shame because it has all the makings of a great book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coding theory    2. Combinatorics    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Communications / Networking    6. Cryptography    7. Operating Systems - General    8. Security - General    9. Coding theory & cryptology    10. Computers / Security   

Reviews (1)

It's a very good intro text.
Good choice of topics. Easy to read. The concepts are well motivated. The book is full of applications. An undergraduate will be able to follow the proofs. They are clear. I also liked the homework exercises. This is a student-friendly book, as the title suggests. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Combinatorics    2. Graph Theory    3. Graphic Methods    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Advanced   

Subjects:  1. Graph algorithms    2. Graphic Methods    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Combinatorics & graph theory    6. Mathematics / Combinatorics   

Reviews (1)

Mediocre text with some potential
Merris has tried to write a text suitable for a one-semester introduction to graph theory for undergraduates with little background required (merely standard proof techniques). He has succeeded in writing a text that can be covered in one term, if you rush, rush, and rush some more. However, he has relegated some important topics to poorly-written exercises (e.g., Euler tours and such). The text also lacks cohesiveness. The Preface makes it clear that Merris wants the book to lead to four independent strands after the initial three chapters. However, a single chapter does not constitute a "strand" to be followed, and the only set of chapters that becomes cohesive at the end is 7, 8, and 9. Regarding chapter 9, don't let the title "Oriented Graphs" mislead you. A tiny portion of the chapter deals with oriented graphs as an excuse to introduce the vertex-edge incidence matrix and then the Laplacian matrix, and the rest of the chapter is devoted to properties of the Laplacian spectrum.Read more

Subjects:  1. Combinatorics    2. Discrete Mathematics    3. Graph Theory    4. Graphic Methods    5. Mathematics    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Combinatorics & graph theory    8. Mathematics / Discrete Mathematics   

Subjects:  1. Combinatorial analysis    2. Combinatorica (Computer file)    3. Data processing    4. General    5. Graph theory    6. Mathematics    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Combinatorics & graph theory    9. Computers / General    10. Mathematical & statistical software   

Reviews (5)

Excellent book...very clear, well-organized
This is a graduate level text that presents advanced material and yet is easier to understand than most high school texts.The writing is vibrant and lucid; it is a pleasure to read.I could come up with a few minor complaints about the presentation of this or that but these comments would be silly and not very relevant.
Greatbook for Computer Scientist
I am M.Sc.Computer Science student and work for software company. I needed a book covering aspects in Combinatorics and this is the book.

Very helpful
Combinatorics is a bit of an oddity. Although a few principles (like pigeonholing) apply in many cases, every combinatorial problem has unique features. Attacking a new situation is almost like starting all over again, unless you can recognize an old problem in your new one.Read more

Subjects:  1. Combinatorial analysis    2. Combinatorics    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Combinatorics & graph theory    6. Mathematics / Probability   

Reviews (1)

Useful yet dense!
This is the most comprehensive compilation on combinatorial optiomization I have seen so far.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Science    2. Discrete Mathematics    3. Linear Programming    4. Mathematics    5. Number Theory    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Algorithms & procedures    8. Combinatorial Optimization    9. Discrete Algorithms    10. Mathematical Programming    11. Mathematics / Discrete Mathematics   

Reviews (1)

Not for an Idle Read
This book is a tough read.For starters, there is the subject matter.If you have had a traditional undergraduate training in mathematics, then talking about sets and elements with axioms that deal with functions rather than elements is a stretch.Then, there is the authors' presentation which mixes axiomatic category theory and naive set theory.The approach does motivate category theory with set theory and it does explain how set theory might be replaced with category theory but, as written, it also leaves the reader unsure which mode of thinking is required at any particular moment.This uncertainty is not likely to be fully resolved without a teacher or a second reading.You need one or the other to navigate some early chapters with knowledge gained later. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Mathematics    2. Science/Mathematics    3. Set Theory    4. Mathematics / Combinatorics   

Reviews (2)

Great Book.
This is a great text on matroid theory. This book is far easier to read than other matroid book I have seen (Welsh). Second edition is a significant update and cheaper to boot. (being a paperback)
Good book
The author clearly explains the topic.My only complaint is that some of the problems are rather difficult, and there isn't a solution key. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Combinatorics    2. Discrete Mathematics    3. Graphic Methods    4. Group Theory    5. Mathematics    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Combinatorics & graph theory    8. Mathematics / Combinatorics    9. Mathematics | Pure Mathematics