Discrete Mathematics

Thank You.

In my university, we are studying Discrete Math with the Gries book, "A logical approach to Discrete Math", it''s very complete (although it does not include counting techniques, nor techniques to solve recursive equations, all the combinatorial theory) and it should give you enough base to learn about this.

And yes, although you certainly won''t use it directly, it will be tremendously useful to you

Mac for productivity
Linux for development
Palm for mobility
Windows... for the Solitaire

Ick. Epp''s book cost''s almost $120!

If you''re in that price range, Rosen''s Discrete Mathematics and it''s applications is also pretty good.

If you''re amoung the price conscious, though, I''d recommend ''Introductory Discrete Mathematics'' by Balakrishnan. It''s a little less verbose and a touch harder to understand, but it covers everything you need and has the advantage of being 1/10th the sticker price.

Well, Ring theory is the place that a lot of people are first exposed to quaterions, which are useful for 3d graphics.

In general, though, I wouldn''t call much of abstract algebra or number theory directly applicable to programming the way that graph theory or linear algebra is.

Don''t get me wrong, though. It''s still worth learning. Just go for Discrete, Combinatorics, graph theory, etc. first.