<p>Hope this isn't a stupid question, but do professors generally require that students have the very latest edition of the textbooks they ask for?</p>
<p>I think they just want you to have the textbooks they ask for. editions don't tend to matter because they usually have the same material.</p>
<p>I've found editions usually do matter, especially in science classes with latest discoveries and theories.</p>
<p>ndcountrygirl: what have you been smoking? unless you are comparing a textbook from the 60s to one in the 90s "latest discoveries" don't matter....textbooks on calculus, physics, chemistry can be used regardless of the editions being two-three years apart...all the stuff that was to be discovered in the general areas taught to students were discovered a LONG time ago</p>
<p>Some professors might give assignments that consist of problems from the course's textbook. In such cases you'd need to have whatever edition the professor is asking for; if there is no mention of an edition, then go to the bookstore and see what edition they have for sale -- that's most likely what the course will be using. Either way, check with the professor if you're concerned.</p>
<p>In a field such as genetics editions matter. Five years ago we knew so much less about genetics than we do now. </p>
<p>As far as other fields go, edition mostly matters because the publishers like to change some of the numbering on problems at the end of the chapter to get people to buy the new book. In any problem set class you should get the newest edition or make a habit of checking to make sure you're doing the correct problems.</p>
<p>^Does new editions even matter on the undergraduate level?</p>
<p>sometimes a new edition means they just shuffled the words around a bit and stuck a new cover on. sometimes a new edition includes an entirely new chapter. look the textbook up on amazon.com and there's usually people who've reviewed the book and will tell you how different it is from the newest edition</p>
<p>A different ISBN may be issued for different printings of the very same edition of a textbook. Also, different types of covers result in different ISBN's. I've had pretty good success buying textbooks online and provided you get the proper edition, I think you'll be okay.</p>
<p>ee_stu: Yes, I was talking about undergrad.</p>
<p>Textbooks are soooooo expensive, do anything you can toget them as cheap as possible.
But for the most part, textbook sharing never works, and trying to get them from the library seldom works.
You can usually get away with the previous edition only, anything too old is risky.
Many of the textbooks, have a supplemental website, so that can help too.
if you order online, make sure they have available inventory, otherwise days can turn into weeks while you wait.</p>
<p>For math/scheince/engineering especially, they change the problems between editions, so if your professor assigns numbers 1-10, and you have and old edition, you may be doing the wrong problems.</p>
<p>To save money, buy them used online. Some sites offer international editions which you can't sell back at your bookstore (good if you plan to keep it or sell back online) for a lot cheaper that are paperback.</p>
<p>Yeah, I meant that I had bought a number of 'used' textbooks online. I've been lucky and I find that you can trust the condition designations (Like New, Very Good, Fair, etc). But always couple this with the seller's rating so that you have a better chance of a good transaction.</p>
<p>I'm currently purchasing textbooks for my history class, and my professor specifically stated to try to find the older edition (2001) of the 2005 edition book we're supposed to be using. I found the 2000 edition to be much more widely available, and for a lot cheaper, so I simply emailed her to ask if it was acceptable to use for her class. I mean, it's a European history course, and it isn't exactly as though you can really change the information significantly anyway.</p>
<p>And as for science classes, last semester I took a psych course, and used a book that wasn't even close to being the latest edition, and still managed to get an A. Go to class, use the suplemental website, and attend any review sessions for tests TAs might offer and you'll be fine. Also, talk to upperclassmen who have taken the course, a lot of professors don't use the textbooks even if they ask you to buy them.</p>
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a lot of professors don't use the textbooks even if they ask you to buy them
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<p>Aargh! Yes, this really P***** me off! Profs should be asked to indicate if the book is really used or only supplemental material. At least give students the choice! We wasted hundreds of dollars last year on books that were neither used nor needed.</p>
<p>For math and science would it matter if I got the international version intstead even if it is the same edition? I know the description said for my calculus book that it uses the metric system but I don't ever recall using units in calculus</p>