Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering professors Esfandiar Haghverdi and Louie Zhu have published their user-friendly mathematics textbook, Mathematical Foundations of Information Sciences, that provides clear explanations, foundational tools and problem-solving skills that will help learners well into their future careers.
The new edition, published by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Lt., offers many new features from the previous two editions, including a chapter on Graph Theory and more exercises and worked examples. It is available in hardcover, softcover and e-book.
“We emphasize practical approaches to problem-solving over theoretical concepts,” said Zhu, teaching professor of Informatics and Computing at the Indianapolis campus, “by providing readers with hands-on strategies and real-world applications.”
Haghverdi, professor of Computer Science at the Bloomington campus, said this book differs from other math textbooks by focusing on essential areas to prepare students to handle mathematically sophisticated structures now and in the future.
“On a more technical level,” Haghverdi said, “we approach the teaching of predicate logic and formal proofs -- for propositional and predicate logics -- very differently from many extant books.”
The book, which doesn’t require advanced math skills beyond the high school level, concisely introduces students to the basics of logical thinking and important mathematical structures critical to understanding logical formalisms and building the necessary background to tackle other fields based on those logical principles. It’s essential reading for those interested in Informatics, Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, and more.
The book is based on Haghverdi’s lecture notes from the INFO-I201 Mathematical Foundations for Informatics class in Bloomington, which Zhu used in teaching the same course at Indiana University Indianapolis.
INFO-I201 is a required course at IU-Indianapolis for Bachelor degrees in Informatics, Data Science, Biomedical Informatics and Artificial Intelligence.
Haghverdi said because Informatics students come from a variety of backgrounds such as biology, social sciences, mathematics and physical sciences, it was not easy to design a course that fit everyone’s needs. The solution was to introduce topics vital for students to successfully complete the Informatics and other closely related undergraduate programs.
Haghverdi said the book reflects the results of those efforts. He and Zhu understood that Informatics students might be unfamiliar with mathematical definitions and techniques, but these subjects were necessary to complete academic requirements and would provide the understanding of abstract thinking and reasoning valuable in and out of the classroom.
The message was clear and simple -- attack as many problems in as many topics as possible, and that the only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.
The book provides the tools to do that, and more.
“We believe that the best way to interact with this book,” Haghverdi and Zhu said, “is to read it from the beginning to the end or to a point where you think your needs are satisfied, in sequential order.”