Applied Combinatorics

Updated with new material, this Fifth Edition of the most widely used book in combinatorial problems explains how to reason and model combinatorically. It also stresses the systematic analysis of different possibilities, exploration of the logical structure of a problem, and ingenuity. Combinatorical reasoning underlies all analysis of computer systems. It plays a similar role in discrete operations research problems and in finite probability. This book seeks to develop proficiency in basic discrete math problem solving in the way that a calculus text develops proficiency in basic analysis problem solving.