How important is it to get the newest edition (for textbooks)?

<p>Hi all,
I was looking at prices of textbooks on Amazon, and I noticed that while you can get an older edition of the textbook for $30, the newer one often shoots up to the $100-200 range. Do professors usually REQUIRE the newest edition, or would an older one be enough (aiming for B+, preferrably A range grades)?</p>

<p>The books I'm concerned about:
for MATH 20B - Calculus Early Transcendentals W/ Or W/o 2 Cd's, 5 Edition by Stewart (this is what's listed on the ucsd schedule when I click on the little book icon, however, I noticed that there's a 6th edition that just came out. Would professors change this to the 6th edition? Or am I safe to purchase the 5th one since it's listed on ucsd website? The reason I'm looking to buy this right now - rather than waiting for after signing up for classes - is that I want to brush up on the basic calculus skills :))</p>

<p>for CHEM 6AH - Principles Of Modern Chemistry, 6 Edition</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

<p>i checked on tritonlink's schedule of classes and you can get the 5th edition. and maybe you should consider going to ebay or half.com to buy [strike]my[/strike] one of the calc books listed there...and [strike]my[/strike] solutions manual while you're at it. :)</p>

<p>most profs don't care about editions as long as it's not too old. for classes that have required homework problems, you should get the one listed on tritonlink</p>

<p>dammit no html on these forums :( or the ones with the []'s.</p>

<p>These forums really are html-deprived. There isn't even a QUOTE button. I hate doing
[QUOTE]
manually.</p>

<p>One guy on CC got an A without buying the textbook. He is probably reading this.</p>

<p>You have to sometimes compare the editions and find what's different. If you feel comfortable with maybe photocopying a couple of pages out of a classmate's newer edition, you'll be fine.</p>

<p>Odds are that not much will be different in a 6th edition of a lower division calc course.</p>

<p>If Tritonlink says 5th edition, get the 5th edition... </p>

<p>In general, it kinda depends on the book and which editions. Sometimes books change a lot between editions, and it might be difficult to use an older edition... But if you do get an older edition, you could check the most recent edition from the library for a few hours if you ever need it...</p>

<p>It's true. You really don't even need a textbook.</p>

<p>Textbooks aren't always needed. Some of my professors have actually disliked the books assigned to the courses they were teaching.</p>

<p>I got by without buying any textbooks in the spring.</p>

<p>You can also check out some textbooks from the library.</p>

<p>newest edition is probably best... the older editions might have different problems at the end of each chapter/section (from what I've observed)</p>

<p>GET Principles of Modern Chemistry. If you're planning on fighting it out through the honors series, it'll be helpful.</p>

<p>ask your teacher</p>

<p>Yea, I would say wait until you hear what your professor wants. It's true that textbooks are cheaper if you buy them beforehand, but better to know what exactly you need to buy and buy it, rather than waste money and time getting the wrong edition.</p>

<p>And yea, honestly, if you're willing to go to the library everytime you need a textbook, you can scrape by without buying the textbook. </p>

<p>I just bought my books for this fall quarter (they probably work for winter and spring as well) just because they were cheap... $10, $30 and whatever a 6BL lab manual costs. Just see how much your books are, and base your decisions on that.</p>

<p>The lab manual costs 10 bucks...</p>

<p>And if you want to buy books ahead of time, just e-mail the prof... Thats what I did.</p>

<p>
[quote]
GET Principles of Modern Chemistry. If you're planning on fighting it out through the honors series, it'll be helpful.

[/quote]

i actually wasnt planning on taking the honors series but i think i have that book.... anyone know what it looks like or can someone give me the authors of the book so i can double check?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Modern-Chemistry-David-Oxtoby/dp/0534493661/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-1739321-9969221?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186762582&sr=8-1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Modern-Chemistry-David-Oxtoby/dp/0534493661/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-1739321-9969221?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186762582&sr=8-1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It's the 6th edition, which came out in 2007. SO expensive :(</p>

<p>half.com, amazon.com used, or alibris.com, sometimes overstock...etc. why buy new anyway. i've never bought any of my books new</p>

<p>I got my Principles of modern chem new, and I thrashed it... Its a shame. But the 6th edition cover is pretty!</p>

<p>I have had lots of problems with half.com. It took 6 weeks for one book to come, and I never got another one that I bought. Never going there again...</p>

<p>^^ you can submit a claim to half.com and they'll refund you the cost of the book once they look into it. i've done it before.</p>

<p>books from half can take a while sometimes, but i've only had one bad experience (see above) out of using it dozens of times to both buy and sell my books.</p>

<p>wait, so back to the original question: does a 1 year difference in edition really make THAT much of a difference? cause i have a 5th edition book but apparently, a 6th edition just came out and i'm too broke/lazy to buy a new book.</p>