Discrete Mathematics

This gentle introduction to discrete mathematics is written for first and second year math majors, especially those who intend to teach. The text began as a set of lecture notes for the discrete mathematics course at the University of Northern Colorado. This course serves both as an introduction to topics in discrete math and as the “introduction to proof” course for math majors. The course is usually taught with a large amount of student inquiry, and this text is written to help facilitate this.

Four main topics are covered: counting, sequences, logic, and graph theory. Along the way proofs are introduced, including proofs by contradiction, proofs by induction, and combinatorial proofs. The book contains over 470 exercises, including 275 with solutions and over 100 with hints. There are also Investigate! activities throughout the text to support active, inquiry based learning.

While there are many fine discrete math textbooks available, this text has the following advantages:

• It is written to be used in an inquiry rich course.
• It is written to be used in a course for future math teachers.
• It is open source, with low cost print editions and free electronic editions.

This third edition brings improved exposition, a new section on trees, and a bunch of new and improved exercises. For a complete list of changes, and to view the free electronic version of the text, visit the book’s website at discrete.openmathbooks.org