Selected Papers on Discrete Mathematics (Volume 106)

by Donald Ervin Knuth

Sixth in a series of collected works, Selected Papers on Discrete Mathematics is devoted to Knuth's purely mathematical work. Over forty of Knuth's classic papers spanning the entire range of discrete mathematics are collected in this volume, all brought up to date with extensive revisions and the addition of new material.

The papers emphasize general techniques of problem solving and explore the creation of mathematical patterns. Knuth's prize-winning expositions of mathematical notation, his accounts of episodes in the history of mathematics, and his fundamental papers on tableaux and random graphs are all found here, along with fifty new illustrations. Scholars and students of mathematics will find this an indispensable collection.

Genres: Mathematics

828 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Donald Ervin Knuth, born January 10th 1938, is a renowned computer scientist and Professor Emeritus of the Art of Computer Programming at Stanford University.

Author of the seminal multi-volume work The Art of Computer Programming ("TAOCP"), Knuth has been called the "father" of the analysis of algorithms, contributing to the development of, and systematizing formal mathematical techniques for, the rigorous analysis of the computational complexity of algorithms, and in the process popularizing asymptotic notation.

In addition to fundamental contributions in several branches of theoretical computer science, Knuth is the creator of the TeX computer typesetting system, the related METAFONT font definition language and rendering system, and the Computer Modern family of typefaces.

A prolific writer and scholar, Knuth created the WEB/CWEB computer programming systems designed to encourage and facilitate literate programming, and designed the MMIX instruction set architecture.