What is Discrete Mathematics?
Learn what discrete mathematics is and how it relates to computer science, particularly in algorithms and data structures. Understand the difference between discrete and continuous mathematics through practical programming examples in Java and C++. This lesson helps you grasp key discrete concepts essential for programming and algorithm design.
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Introduction to discrete mathematics
We need to understand what discrete mathematics is and its relationship with computer science before we learn how to implement discrete mathematical concepts in the various fields of computer science.
As mentioned before, we’ve tried to implement discrete mathematical concepts in algorithms and data structures so we can better understand these concepts.
Discrete mathematics (DM) is a branch of mathematics. To be very particular, it’s the study of mathematical structures and objects that are discrete.
People, animals, chairs, and everything we see around us fall under this mathematical study. Why? Because they’re discrete and distinct. They’re not continuous.
Real numbers consist of rational and irrational numbers or a continuous number line, which is not a part of discrete mathematics. Instead, natural numbers (N), like 0, 1, 2, etc., which are discrete, fall under this category. Discrete mathematical conceptions handle distinct and separated values. The opposite of discrete mathematics is continuous mathematics, such as calculus or Euclidean geometry. However, the Euclidean algorithm that helps us find the greatest common divisor of two positive natural numbers (GCD) is discrete. We’ll see an example in a minute.
At best, we can say that the opposite of continuous mathematics is discrete mathematics.
In mathematics, several concepts exhibit noncontinuity; examples include set ...