[ABE.pm] Concrete Mathematics (a.k.a. Yo, Walt!)

[Walt Mankowski]

On Wed, Sep 05, 2007 at 10:49:58PM -0400, Faber J. Fedor wrote:
> Walt,
> 
> As the resident CompSci grad student, what do you think about "Concrete
> Mathematics" (http://tinyurl.com/2wm7on)?
> 
> I've been trying to work my way through it but it's been difficult. I
> think my problem is my math background is BS/MS EE related math (read:
> analysis) and nothing related to discrete math.
> 
> Any suggestions on what kind of math I need to read up on to grok
> "Concrete Mathematics"?

Faber,

Sorry, I've never read Concrete Mathematics.  About all I know about
it is that it's printed in an odd boxy font that Knuth created just
for that book.  I skimmed through it in Drexel's library just to look
at it.  I think it's ugly. :)

Offhand I'd think that if you could handle the math you see getting a
BS/MS in EE, you could handle anything Knuth would throw at you.  But
maybe not.  Comp Sci math tends to focus on different things than what
real engineers do.  Stuff like Jacobians, gradiants, and other
calculus things show up in subfields like computer vision, but not so
much in analyzing algorithms.

I suppose it's also possible that your math's gotten a little rusty.
I know mine was when I started back at Drexel.  I still feel behind
some of the recent grads.

Walt