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/sci/ - Science & Math

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Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:31:43 2011 No.2650322 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: Bad textbooks to avoid.

How the hell am I supposed to learn new concepts from this damn book? The practical applications are explained fine, but the equations and variables behind everything are presented in such a rapid-fire and user-unfriendly way. And the questions at the end of the chapters are exponentially more difficult than even final exam questions, making them nearly impossible to revise with.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:35:43 2011 No.2650337 Want to choose a textbook to read? Here's what you do: 1. Go to amazon. 2. Type in what you want to learn, e.g. "Physics". 3. Find the books with the highest ratings. 4. Read a few customer reviews (both good and bad)

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:39:43 2011 No.2650351 lol OP I have the same book, same complaints. Nothing to add, just know the pain is universal.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:43:43 2011 No.2650364 File: 18 KB, 200x289, dianetics.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Never trust a book with a volcano on the cover.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:44:43 2011 No.2650366 File: 23 KB, 322x475, jackson.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] THIS is the hardest textbook you will ever use. If halliday-resnick gives you a headache, switch to engineering, its not worth it.

Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:46:43 2011 No.2650371
File: 28 KB, 500x500, fuckIhatedthistextbook.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

I hated everything about this book for the first 2 classes in the calculus series at my uni.

Could be because I had one of those teachers that assigned as much busy work as possible throughout both courses.

>Tonight's work is #'s 1-5, 8,9, 11, 15-28, 30-35. 38, 42-49, 55-70, 74, 78......

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:47:43 2011 No.2650380 >>2650371 shame on you

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:49:43 2011 No.2650389 >>2650380 Hey I did the work and made the grades, I just also developed a pretty supreme hatred for that book. Even looking at it on the shelf now, I want to kill it with fire.

Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:50:43 2011 No.2650392
File: 38 KB, 500x500, degroot.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>2650322
Hey I studied Ph101 from this one!
Unless you want to Phd in Stats this is a terrible textbook for a basic probability and statistics course.
The notation is not comparable to any other standard.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:53:43 2011 No.2650404 File: 37 KB, 350x500, 518IoFHeNXL.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] So. Fucking. Dense.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:55:43 2011 No.2650414 >>2650322 I had that textbook. It kicked my ass.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:56:43 2011 No.2650417 >>2650371 I had that same book. Never even opened it. We do all the work on webwork, wolframalpha, scanned notes and emailing ta, helped on the rest.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 21:58:43 2011 No.2650432 >>2650371 Dude, seriously. I FUCKING LOVE STEWART CALCULUS. Couldn't have passed without it

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:00:43 2011 No.2650440 File: 63 KB, 457x600, Knight2ndEd.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] 1500 pages of garbage.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:19:43 2011 No.2650527 >>2650440 especially when you jump around and shit

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:27:07 2011 No.2650562 Avoid this shit at all costs

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:31:43 2011 No.2650575 File: 36 KB, 383x475, isbn.aspx.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Avoid this shit at all costs

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:34:43 2011 No.2650588 If I may, What is the best Physics and Calculus books in your opinions? I'm interested in teaching myself. I pretty much got through taught myself calc 1, but I really want to expand on my horizons.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:34:43 2011 No.2650590 >>2650575 Do you have homework on masteringphysics.com too? That shit is awful.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:39:43 2011 No.2650607 >MasteringPhysics "HEY ANSWER THIS QUESTION TO THREE SIGNIFICANT FIGURES" >3.54 * 10^23 "LOL NOPE WRONG ANSWER, USED YOUR LAST GUESS. CORRECT ANSWER WAS 3.537 * 10^23. ENJOY YOUR LOST POINTS FAGGOT"

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:40:43 2011 No.2650610 >>2650588 Apologies. I meant to say, what are my the best Physics and Calculus books in your opinion? As the night drags on, my grammar begins to fall apart.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:44:43 2011 No.2650621 File: 36 KB, 500x500, 51kd4yW3w8L._SS500_.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Fuck. This. Shit.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:44:43 2011 No.2650623 >>2650607 >Instructions clearly laid out >answers it to 2 figures >is still mad you suck

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:46:43 2011 No.2650634 >>2650610 The Feynman Lectures are a classic.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:51:43 2011 No.2650645 >>2650634 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/#data=3\|\|\| Is there a torrent of this or other Feynman stuff.

>>	NINJAPANDAX0X Sat Mar 5 22:52:43 2011 No.2650648 >>2650607 Haaaaa! Same thing with MasteringChemistry. I had that last term and it was rage-inducing.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:56:43 2011 No.2650660 >>2650623 nonzero digits in front of the decimal point are always significant, retard.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:59:43 2011 No.2650675 >>2650634 Thank you very much. This will give me some basis for physics. Any suggestions for calculus?

Anonymous Sat Mar 5 22:59:43 2011 No.2650676

>>2650621
I'm currently using the 6th Edition of Physics: Principles With Applications.

You guys have any opinion on that? This is the first physics class I've ever taken, so I'm not too sure on what my opinion of the textbook is. I want to possibly rent a different physics textbook to compare.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:13:43 2011 No.2650737 >>2650371 >>2650371 >>2650371 That book is great... if you like math. It's very technical. I love it but understand why some people might not like it.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:20:43 2011 No.2650758 >>2650322 Yeah my physics class had to switch to an easier book because idiots like you can't keep up.

>>	poorengineer Sat Mar 5 23:25:43 2011 No.2650777 >>2650371 that is actually a pretty awesome book, especially for multivariable calc

Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:30:43 2011 No.2650793
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Found this to be a godawful & poorly written pre-calculus textbook. So little examples for theorems and rules. And this price for this book is comparable to paying $20 for a piece of candy.

There are better pre-calc books out there, I just don't know of them.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:39:43 2011 No.2650814 File: 15 KB, 318x475, Ahlfors_Complex_Analysis.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] The entire reason I never bothered learning Complex Analysis. Ahlfors can go to hell.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:44:43 2011 No.2650826 File: 51 KB, 400x579, sicp.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] The most overrated computer programming book in the world.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:44:43 2011 No.2650828 So, is Campbell Biology officially the best biology textbook to get nowadays?

Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:48:43 2011 No.2650847
File: 18 KB, 240x320, 0534997236.01._SX240_SCLZZZZZZZ_[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

We had this in my AP Physics class in high school and it was the worst piece of shit textbook I've seen. I ended up buying Cutnell/Johnson on Amazon and using it instead.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:50:43 2011 No.2650860 >>2650828 Fuck that. There isn't anything in Campbell that doesn't have a better diagram online. Intro bio help? Fuck textbooks. Youtube.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:51:43 2011 No.2650864 >>2650607 My favorite questions are the ones where it asks you to write a formula in terms of a certain set of variables, and the answer doesn't use one of the variables it provided.

>>	Anonymous Sat Mar 5 23:54:43 2011 No.2650878 >>2650828 I like freeman personally but bio and textbooks usually doesn't work with me anyway. grab a recorder and stick to lecture.

>>	Anonymous Sun Mar 6 00:02:43 2011 No.2650911 File: 24 KB, 300x273, trollface-(n1297246220790).jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Baby Rudin

>>	Anonymous Sun Mar 6 00:05:43 2011 No.2650925 >>2650911 Shilov is superior.

>>	Anonymous Sun Mar 6 00:08:43 2011 No.2650936 try MIT's open courseware.. google it. (other schools have OCW as well)

>>	Anonymous Sun Mar 6 00:09:43 2011 No.2650942 >>2650878 Bio professor literally recites everything from the textbook. I'd like to get a second bio book, though, even though I enjoy using the first.

Anonymous Sun Mar 6 00:20:43 2011 No.2650987

>>2650440
>>2650527
>>2650590
>>2650607

I'm using this book and masteringphysics as well. I havn't had any issues with mistaken instructions on mastering physics, except for one complaint where I answered something as 1 2/3 (took the time to put in the fraction) instead of 1.67, and it didn't say decimal form or sigfigs.

I think it really comes down to the professor you have, as they design the assignments on MP from what I understand, and also set tolerances and requirements for an answer. All of my assignments have been pretty damn clear so far.

As far as the book - I don't mind it conceptually, though I really had a problem in the first few chapters with how addicted this asshole is to putting a million subscripts on fucking everything. Only other complaint is only about 20% of the questions at the end of the chapter can be directly referenced to the chapter info and examples itself, the vast majority of the questions require you to do a lot more footwork of your own from other resources to attack the problem effectively. However, I am used to having to do this in college level math and science courses, and if I wasn't a physics major extremely motivated to keep my 4.0, I can definitely see going apeshit over the amount of outside work and dedication a course based on this book with a demanding teacher requires.

I'm still rocking an A though in the class. Despite the speedbumps I havn't found any brick walls.

tl;dr - people who bitch about books probably have a shitty instructor and don't have the motivation to learn on their own time outside of straightforward assignments

>>	Anonymous Sun Mar 6 00:34:43 2011 No.2651028 >>2650942 You have an incredibly shitty professor then. I dunno, I just fall back on Scitable or Khan academy for reinforcement.

>>	Anonymous Sun Mar 6 00:39:43 2011 No.2651041 >>2650322 >>2650322 You might want to switch to something like history.

>>	Anonymous Sun Mar 6 10:24:43 2011 No.2652672 >>2651028 I 100% agree. It's one of those classes you really have to take the time out and learn on your own. Self-learning.

>>	Anonymous Sun Mar 6 10:35:43 2011 No.2652705 >>2650322 LOLWAT? here in germany our professor recommended it to us, for being far supperior to most of the german physics textbooks. You guys seem so spoiled.

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