Mechanical engineering student here. What's a good resource

More specifically, I'm looking to get into extremal combinatorics. I haven't worked with this stuff at all before, though, so any sort of introduction would work just as well.

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>you want practical application?
>you want easy introductory course?
Too bad, here read COMBO.

>>7974738
I'm not really looking for proof autistry. I'm focused on actually doing useful things with it instead of solving cute little math puzzles.

>>7974837
I have Kenneth H. Rosen's "Discrete Mathematics and its Applications " here on my desk.
Might be what you're looking for.

How are proofs "autistry" again? I know that you're probably going to be playing with concrete and boulders for the rest of your life, but maybe you could, y'know, broaden your skill set?

>>7974903
Dude, don't talk shit about concrete

>>7974903
I don't need someone to prove to me that this math works, because it obviously does and there's no point in proving it again. I just want to better familiarize myself with the material so I can experiment using it to automate some design problems. Essentially having computers invent new technology in a way.

Also you're thinking of civil engineers.

>>7974903
>Kenneth H. Rosen's "Discrete Mathematics and its Applications "

That book is written for middle schoolers

>>7974912
Exactly.

So is everything pretty much either autism or useless then?

>>7974916
>>7974912

Is it really? I haven't read it, but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume this is just /sci/ being elitistand/or sarcastic like "What? You didn't learn algebraic topology in highschool?". Or is this not the case?

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>>7974431
I just ordered this yesterday because it's super cheap on Amazonm (just posting for ideas).

However, most undergrad programmes seem to use Combinatorial Optimization by Cook, Cunningham et. al so I recommend that if you need a serious background for your work. The /sci/ wiki page doesn't have much on optimisation unfortunately.

As a ChemE I tend to prefer Dover books in general, they are easier to understand (though I probably less rigorous), I think modern textbooks are more difficult because the more developed a math becomes the more rigorous/formal it becomes and the harder it is to learn for someone new to the field, though I don't read a lot of really cutting edge math textbooks so maybe I'm wrong. I'd be interested to hear a math student's take on it.

>>7975421
>Is it really?
The books description says so.

bump for interest

>>7975421
>>7975442
I wasn't being elitist, and no, it's not really. You didn't tell us much about your actual background, except that you're too good for proofs.Most middle schoolers don't know nor care about discrete math beyond basic probability.

The book itself is used for a course at my school that's taken almost exclusively by math, computer science, and computer engineering majors. About half of the book falls under what I would call combinatorics. From chapter 6 onward, you have counting, discrete probability, advanced counting, relations, graphs, and trees.

If you already know about that kind of stuff, then
>>7974738
And just do some selective reading. It's not worth doing, if you don't want to kill yourself at least a little bit, while you're doing it.

>>7975974
He's not even OP, I am. Calm yourself down.

>>7974431

So is combinatorics used a lot in a mech e degree?

>>7976096
I don't think so.

Then again, I wouldn't think a computer science major would actually need anything from the calculus circuit or physics...here I am with 3 semesters of both.

>>7976096
>>7976181
Not typically for undergrad, but I'm working with some computational optimization and design stuff.

>>7975434
Thanks a bunch. Just ordered this. I hope it's good.