What is Discrete Math?

Question

Hey guys so i was signing up for my classes for next year and my counselor suggested Discrete Math? What is that?

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

Check out this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrete_mathematics

Answer 2

The study of mathematical data that is discrete.

Discrete means units as opposed to continuous.

If you want to consider the distance from A to B, you can know that the distance is continuous. For example there is 1 metre between A and B, but that 1 metre can be broken down into 100 cm or 1000 mm or a million micrometres etc. That is to say it is continuous.

In discrete mathematics we deal with units that aren't broken down into fractions, for example the number of people in a class room is a discrete figure, or the number of cars travelling past a point in a given time. Continuous data can be graphed with a line (e.g. temperature against time) but discrete maths has to be graphed with a bar chart or histogram (e.g. number of people who voted for a party plotted against the various parties).

Answer 3

I don't know if there is a formal definition of discrete math, but basically it works with things that are non-continuous. Combinatorics, number theory, logic,and computer science would all usually be considered examples of discrete math.

Analytic geometry and calculus are examples of non-discrete math.