<p>Is there a major difference between editions in textbooks? What about UCSD custom and regular textbooks?</p>
<p>Different editions of textbooks have the same information (for the most part anyway, hardly any changes between versions) but mixed up and/or different problems, examples, solutions.</p>
<p>the only time i ever came across a major difference between editions is the international/global vs. us editions for engineering (maybe physics). basically i bought the international edition (SI-units), where the US edition was all imperial units. there were enough change in the problems that it caused me a hassle to use, but i did spend only $30 on it. so it depends on the field.</p>
<p>The UCSD custom tends to order the chapters differently and sometimes omits certain chapters that won’t be covered in the lecture. Different editions tends to use different problems and graphics; some edition changes are bigger than others. If you’re thinking about using an earlier edition I would email the professor for their opinion. Usually 1 edition back is fine.</p>