I'm a freshman computer science major who has just started reading Concrete Mathematics, mathematics for computer science. Is there any prerequisite reading or learning I should do before embarking on reading this book?
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Most of it is self-contained. Just know that there's a bit of mathematical maturity required, and in the preface it is even noted that the book is based on a course at Stanford typically taught to graduate students, with a few juniors and seniors thrown in the mix. – lamyvista Jul 20 '15 at 06:32
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Heh, I almost taught a class with this text. You should know some basics first, since they don't spend too much time on them. In particular, you should have
- some basic set theory (what sets are, what operations on sets mean)
- some comfort in what an induction proof is and how they generally look (yes the book discusses them in general, but they spend more time applying them)
- some calculus, enough to know what a Riemann sum is and what Riemann integration means
- a little comfort about sequences and series
- knowledge of complex numbers
- a willingness to work through problems and a natural curiosity
Anything else that you run into that's unfamiliar, you can probably pick up on the fly. Good luck!
Ken
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2I have taught a course from (parts of) it. On the whole I agree with this, though one can manage a very large part of it without any knowledge of complex numbers. – Brian M. Scott Jul 20 '15 at 11:00
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