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Introduction to Algorithms, 2/e
Thomas H. Cormen, Dartmouth College
Charles E. Leiserson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ronald L. Rivest, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Clifford Stein, Columbia University
Appendix C - Counting and Probability

Overview - Appendix C

This chapter reviews elementary combinatorics and probability theory. If you have a good background in these areas, you may want to skim the beginning of the chapter lightly and concentrate on the later sections. Most of the chapters do not require probability, but for some chapters it is essential

Section C.1 reviews elementary results in counting theory, including standard formulas for counting permutations and combinatins. The axioms of probability and basic facts concerning probability distributions are presented in Section C.2. Random variables are introduced in Section C.3, along with the properties of expectation and variance. Section C.4 investigates the geometric and binomial distributions that arise from studying Bernoulli trials. The study of the binomial distribution is continued in Section C.5, an advanced discussion of the "tails" of the distribution.









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