Thursday, July 14, 2011

Discrete Structures [Sem 3] [Comp & IT]

Discrete Structures is a subject introduced into the 3rd semester of the Engineering curriculum in Computer & IT Engineering of Pune University. A very important subject for a Software Engineer in his career. Almost all the topics in this subject is repeatedly used in other concepts which will be introduced to you in the upcoming semesters. Graph Theory, Trees and all other theorems like the Dijkstra, Hamilton, Kruskal, Prims and many other concepts introduced here will be required in many other subjects.


 Now coming to the subject, this is really a very simple subject, totally conceptual and logical. You will love this subject. The subject requires sufficient amount of practice but it is not at all difficult. You can easily score in this subject. Scoring 75+ in this subject does not require strenuous efforts.
The syllabus and the question paper set is same for Computer and IT Engineering.


Analysis :


Unit 1 - Sets and Propositions
Very easy unit .Most of the concepts here are already introduced to you in your HSC syllabus. Really scoring unit. Does not require much time, questions asked from this unit are also simple.


Unit  2 - Groups and Rings
Easy unit  BUT  this really a lengthy and boring unit. A lot of theory and principles to learn. Makes it really boring to learn and practice. You can score but this unit is really time consuming.


Unit 3 -  Relations and Functions
This unit is a bit difficult in this subject. Time consuming  and a bit strenuous . You will get bugged by the time you finish this unit. (This unit is much better than Unit 2)


Unit 4 - Graphs 
Very easy and scoring. Hardly requires time to complete this unit. You can easily finish this unit in half a day with sufficient amount of practice. All the concepts and algorithms introduced here are very essential in the future subjects.


Unit 5 -  Trees
Again a very simple and easy to learn unit. This unit again has immense importance in your future subjects and concepts. You can easily  score in this unit. All questions are  simple in this unit. Not at all time consuming.


Unit 6 - Permutations and combinations
You have already dealt with this in your lower classes. Easy to understand and score. Some may find this unit tough since there is a larger logical part int the unit. Quite a lot of practice is required in this unit. But at the end this unit is easy and scoring. 


Books to refer :
 Among the local authors , I would suggest Techmax, although Nirali is also equivalently good. Most of students refer Nirali which is good enough but I personally used Techmax and found it really nice. Enough amount of sums (solved examples) given to understand.
Among the Foreign authors : I would suggest Discrete Structures - C Liu, this is the best book to understand Discrete Structures from the grass root level. Please use many online videos and wikipedia to understand many concepts as this subject is really very important.


Verdict:
 Discrete Structures  although very simple to understand , it requires sufficient amount of practice to score in this subject. Scoring 75+ in this subject is not at all a difficult task. Understand all the concepts very well, this subject has immense applications for other subjects like Data Structures, Computer Networks , Design and Analysis of Algorithms and many other subjects.


Download Ebooks

Discrete Mathematics with Graph Theory
Goodaire






 Learn and understand different concepts of this subject using video lectures from NPTEL:

Introduction to SETS

Recurrence Relations (Part 1)

Recurrence Relations (Part 2 )

Method of Proof


Trees & Graphs



Permutations and Combinations

Permutations and Combinations (contd)


Pigeon Hole Principle


Trees

Graphs (Contd)


Special properties of Relations




Download notes :
Discrete Structures (Stanford University) - Download now



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