Introduction to Discrete Mathematics

Our textbook for the semester is Introduction to Discrete Mathematics. Early versions of the book were originally written by NAU retired mathematics professor Dr. John Hagood (usuing the title MAT 226 Discrete Mathematics). Dr. Hagood was gracious enough to pass the source of the book along and has granted me permission to modify the content. Current iterations of the book are now my responsibility. The book is available as a freely-assessible PDF. Since I will be tweaking the book as we go, chapters will be released incrementally.

I will not be covering every detail of the textbook and the only way to achieve a sufficient understanding of the material is to be digesting the reading in a meaningful way. You should be seeking clarification about the content whenever necessary by asking questions. Here’s one of my favorite quotes about reading mathematics.

Don’t just read it; fight it! Ask your own questions, look for your own examples, discover your own proofs. Is the hypothesis necessary? Is the converse true? What happens in the classical special case? What about the degenerate cases? Where does the proof use the hypothesis?

If you’ve found an error or have suggestions for improvements, please let me know.

Miscellaneous Materials


Dana C. Ernst

Mathematics & Teaching

  Northern Arizona University
  Flagstaff, AZ
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Current Courses

  MAT 226: Discrete Math
  MAT 526: Combinatorics

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Land Acknowledgement

  Flagstaff and NAU sit at the base of the San Francisco Peaks, on homelands sacred to Native Americans throughout the region. The Peaks, which includes Humphreys Peak (12,633 feet), the highest point in Arizona, have religious significance to several Native American tribes. In particular, the Peaks form the Diné (Navajo) sacred mountain of the west, called Dook'o'oosłííd, which means "the summit that never melts". The Hopi name for the Peaks is Nuva'tukya'ovi, which translates to "place-of-snow-on-the-very-top". The land in the area surrounding Flagstaff is the ancestral homeland of the Hopi, Ndee/Nnēē (Western Apache), Yavapai, A:shiwi (Zuni Pueblo), and Diné (Navajo). We honor their past, present, and future generations, who have lived here for millennia and will forever call this place home.