<p>A good introductory book would have a title such as:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0131377108" rel="nofollow">Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Many such titles are available. </p>

<p>Another option is to find suitable material online: a good starting point, which has lots of links, is <a href="http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introductory_Discrete_Mathematics_for_Computer_Science" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introductory_Discrete_Mathematics_for_Computer_Science</a>.</p>

<p>The other option is to google "Discrete mathematics" and such like, find .pdf files and skim through them to see whether they are at your level. Also the notes of many first year university courses covering discrete mathematics and such topics are available online. Again, google is your friend.</p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-27T08:10:24.973Z
2011-01-27T08:10:24.973Z
Dave Clarke
<p>Searching for good textbooks on math related to Computer Science I bought two german books yet, but found them not to be easily understandable and not suitable for self-study . German textbooks are always very academic and extremely based on cryptic formula. They're maybe good, if you want a reference, supplementary to your courses in college, but as pointed out above, I'm trying the self-teaching approach a.t.m. . </p>

<p>I am very interested in theoretical Computer Science, but I lack the needed math knowledge to dig further into the subject . Could you recommend me a book, best in english, which would provide me with the basics of discrete math and every other mathematical subject related to CompSci and is easily understandable ? If the book covers more topics, maybe not so essential for CompSci, but is nevertheless good for self-study, I would like to hear about it too.</p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-25T15:17:11.177Z
See: http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/2571/what-kind-of-mathematical-background-is-needed-for-complexity-theory and
 http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/4539/what-kind-of-mathematical-background-is-needed-for-graph-theory
Dave Clarke
CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-25T15:21:23.360Z
Also http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3253/what-books-should-everyone-read is a really nice list.
Hsien-Chih Chang 張顯之
CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-25T15:27:04.023Z
Maybe you should say something about yourself (for example, if you just finished high school, if you have studied undergraduate level math before, etc).
Vinicius dos Santos
CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-25T16:56:32.180Z
I am still going to "Gymnasium", the german counterpart to the high school, but as pointed out above, I read some books about mathematics and my skills in math are probably at a precalculus level.
still_learning
CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-25T18:10:03.633Z
Probably I need also to concrete my question, I am not only searching for a book, but also an approach of how to learn matc without pain on my own. I find it very hard, to know with which subject of math to start and with which one to continue.
still_learning
CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-26T00:00:57.023Z
why is this not a duplicate ?
Suresh Venkat
CC BY-SA 2.5
2011-01-26T03:06:04.990Z
why is this question not closed?
Alessandro Cosentino
<reference-request><soft-question><big-list><books>
Book recommendations for CompSci related math
still_learning
# Book recommendations for CompSci related math

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-01-25)

Searching for good textbooks on math related to Computer Science I bought two german books yet, but found them not to be easily understandable and not suitable for self-study . German textbooks are always very academic and extremely based on cryptic formula. They're maybe good, if you want a reference, supplementary to your courses in college, but as pointed out above, I'm trying the self-teaching approach a.t.m. .

I am very interested in theoretical Computer Science, but I lack the needed math knowledge to dig further into the subject . Could you recommend me a book, best in english, which would provide me with the basics of discrete math and every other mathematical subject related to CompSci and is easily understandable ? If the book covers more topics, maybe not so essential for CompSci, but is nevertheless good for self-study, I would like to hear about it too.

**Tags:** reference-request, soft-question, big-list, books
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See: http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/2571/what-kind-of-mathematical-background-is-needed-for-complexity-theory and  http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/4539/what-kind-of-mathematical-background-is-needed-for-graph-theory  
> **username_2**: Also http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3253/what-books-should-everyone-read is a really nice list.  
> **username_3**: Maybe you should say something about yourself (for example, if you just finished high school, if you have studied undergraduate level math before, etc).  
> **username_0**: I am still going to "Gymnasium", the german counterpart to the high school, but as pointed out above, I read some books about mathematics and my skills in math are probably at a precalculus level.  
> **username_0**: Probably I need also to concrete my question, I am not only searching for a book, but also an approach of how to learn matc without pain on my own. I find it very hard, to know with which subject of math to start and with which one to continue.  
> **username_4**: why is this not a duplicate ?  
> **username_5**: why is this question not closed?  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-01-27. Score: 1

A good introductory book would have a title such as:

* [Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0131377108)

Many such titles are available.

Another option is to find suitable material online: a good starting point, which has lots of links, is <http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introductory_Discrete_Mathematics_for_Computer_Science>.

The other option is to google "Discrete mathematics" and such like, find .pdf files and skim through them to see whether they are at your level. Also the notes of many first year university courses covering discrete mathematics and such topics are available online. Again, google is your friend.


---

