<story><title>Notes on Discrete Mathematics (2017) [pdf]</title><url>http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/aspnes/classes/202/notes.pdf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jimhefferon</author><text>&amp;gt; Why do most introductory math textbooks not contain solutions?&lt;p&gt;I offer a couple of Free texts, one of which is pretty popular (&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;joshua.smcvt.edu&amp;#x2F;linearalgebra&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;joshua.smcvt.edu&amp;#x2F;linearalgebra&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;).  The answers, completely step-by-step solved, are available.  I can give you two reasons.&lt;p&gt;1) Preparing good questions and giving answers is about half the work.  On my page you&amp;#x27;ll see that the book is 500 pages and the answers are 400 pages.&lt;p&gt;And it is not the half that is fun, or that gets you credit.  I find that compiling the answers greatly increases the quality of the book because I keep going back and adjusting the presentation, etc.  But others don&amp;#x27;t think that.  Rather the opposite; I have been told that it is work only appropriate for grad students.&lt;p&gt;2) I have gotten a fair number of emails along the lines of &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;d like to adopt your book but since anyone can download the answers, I cannot teach out of it.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;It has not in the past proven to be a fruitful strategy for me to inform the email writer that the first thing any 2018 undergrad does on getting a text asignment is to google for the answers pdf, and that those students always succeed.&lt;p&gt;So one reason to not provide answers is to get more adoptions.  This ties in with (1) because my five year reviews are not impressed that random self-learners find the text useful.  They ask about adoptions.</text></item><item><author>learner_</author><text>Why do most introductory math textbooks not contain solutions? How can a self-learner without access to a university or professor check their work?&lt;p&gt;The common answer I get is solutions &amp;quot;rob&amp;quot; the student of learning. Why should the fear of the lazy student cheat those that actually attempt their work and want to see if their solution is correct?&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I heard the argument that &amp;quot;you should know&amp;quot; if your solutions are correct. A beginner is probably prone to subtle mistakes and may think their reasoning is rational. Thus they are probably unaware of any subtle logic errors and could easily fool themselves into thinking their proofs are correct.&lt;p&gt;Is it partially laziness from the authors in creating new problems for homeworks&amp;#x2F;exams? Or do people think a literal beginner in math can be their own proof checker?&lt;p&gt;I wouldn&amp;#x27;t want a beginner programmer writing &amp;quot;production ready&amp;quot; code without code review, so why should we expect a beginner math student to write error free proofs? What is the point in not allowing solutions?&lt;p&gt;As great as these text may be, I couldn&amp;#x27;t and wouldn&amp;#x27;t recommend them for the beginner. These text seem to be designed solely for a classroom where students will get assistance and feedback from TAs and professors. They seem useless for a beginner to learn on their own without outside proof checking.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>_zax2</author><text>Disclaimer: I have studied linear algebra with your book. Thank you for writing it. Special thanks for making it completely free and open-source.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I have gotten a fair number of emails along the lines of &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;d like to adopt your book but since anyone can download the answers, I cannot teach out of it.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;When we had an introductory course in linear algebra, we were not given any home assignments. Instead, we were told that if we want to train and exercise some concepts, we should find third-party materials and self-study -- and so, I used your book. I really like that approach, it allows more capable students to do whatever they like instead, and to less capable -- work on it, if needed. Thus, I don&amp;#x27;t understand the rationale of not teaching out of something that contains solved exercises, because there is no reason to assign &lt;i&gt;mandatory&lt;/i&gt; exercises in the first place. It&amp;#x27;s enough to have tests.&lt;p&gt;And of course, such books are extremely valuable for non-mainstream (that is, not enrolled into a high school or wherever) audience, which can be smaller, but has more impact regarding feedback.</text></comment>
<story><title>Notes on Discrete Mathematics (2017) [pdf]</title><url>http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/aspnes/classes/202/notes.pdf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jimhefferon</author><text>&amp;gt; Why do most introductory math textbooks not contain solutions?&lt;p&gt;I offer a couple of Free texts, one of which is pretty popular (&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;joshua.smcvt.edu&amp;#x2F;linearalgebra&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;joshua.smcvt.edu&amp;#x2F;linearalgebra&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;).  The answers, completely step-by-step solved, are available.  I can give you two reasons.&lt;p&gt;1) Preparing good questions and giving answers is about half the work.  On my page you&amp;#x27;ll see that the book is 500 pages and the answers are 400 pages.&lt;p&gt;And it is not the half that is fun, or that gets you credit.  I find that compiling the answers greatly increases the quality of the book because I keep going back and adjusting the presentation, etc.  But others don&amp;#x27;t think that.  Rather the opposite; I have been told that it is work only appropriate for grad students.&lt;p&gt;2) I have gotten a fair number of emails along the lines of &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;d like to adopt your book but since anyone can download the answers, I cannot teach out of it.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;It has not in the past proven to be a fruitful strategy for me to inform the email writer that the first thing any 2018 undergrad does on getting a text asignment is to google for the answers pdf, and that those students always succeed.&lt;p&gt;So one reason to not provide answers is to get more adoptions.  This ties in with (1) because my five year reviews are not impressed that random self-learners find the text useful.  They ask about adoptions.</text></item><item><author>learner_</author><text>Why do most introductory math textbooks not contain solutions? How can a self-learner without access to a university or professor check their work?&lt;p&gt;The common answer I get is solutions &amp;quot;rob&amp;quot; the student of learning. Why should the fear of the lazy student cheat those that actually attempt their work and want to see if their solution is correct?&lt;p&gt;Additionally, I heard the argument that &amp;quot;you should know&amp;quot; if your solutions are correct. A beginner is probably prone to subtle mistakes and may think their reasoning is rational. Thus they are probably unaware of any subtle logic errors and could easily fool themselves into thinking their proofs are correct.&lt;p&gt;Is it partially laziness from the authors in creating new problems for homeworks&amp;#x2F;exams? Or do people think a literal beginner in math can be their own proof checker?&lt;p&gt;I wouldn&amp;#x27;t want a beginner programmer writing &amp;quot;production ready&amp;quot; code without code review, so why should we expect a beginner math student to write error free proofs? What is the point in not allowing solutions?&lt;p&gt;As great as these text may be, I couldn&amp;#x27;t and wouldn&amp;#x27;t recommend them for the beginner. These text seem to be designed solely for a classroom where students will get assistance and feedback from TAs and professors. They seem useless for a beginner to learn on their own without outside proof checking.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>learner_</author><text>Thank you for writing this book and providing it as a free resource for the audience that I have in mind. I downloaded your book and plan to work through it in its entirety. Coincidentally I am studying linear algebra, so this is a perfect resource for me. The coverage of your material looks very good, so I am excited to work through it.</text></comment>