Book excerpt: The Essential Maths for Students series provides the fundamental mathematical and statistical techniques required by students entering Higher Education in a wide range of courses. Reflecting the needs of both student and lecturer, each text assumes little previous knowledge and is designed to raise the reader's proficiency to the level required by today's courses. Maths for Computing and Information Technology provides a solid introductory grounding in the maths required for modules or courses in computer science and information technology. Through worked examples, highlighted key points and self-assessment questions, the book explains essential mathematical ideas and applies them to the I.T. field. Topics covered include propositional and predicate calculus, matrices, sets, mathematical proofs, probability, co-ordinate geometry and finite state automata.