Wiley Textbook Solutions
Xena Donovan
My question is, why do textbooks often include the solutions to odd or even numbered problems but not both? In my case, I don't think space is the answer because the answers section only takes up 7 pages.
This allowance is a custom to allow instructors to give homework where the solutions to some questions were not provided directly to the student (at least not in the book - this was from a time where searching for solutions to homework was not so easy outside of personal social connections).
If an instructor just wants students to work on problems where the students can easily refer to sample solutions at the back of the book, the instructor can just assign "problems 1-7, odds only". If they want to assign only no-solution problems, they can assign "evens only". If they want to give a mixture to try to encourage students to mix up their solving strategies, they can assign both. To go farther, putting them at the back of the book was another way to try to make it take a little more effort to look for the solution, to encourage the students to try to solve it themselves rather than immediately looking at the solution.
Finally, it is a custom that the problems tend to go from easier to harder, with some texts making the highest numbered questions of a chapter require more knowledge or skills than is actually provided in the accompanying chapter.
As you can imagine, this isn't the only system of designing a textbook that would support these uses, but it just became a very popular and simple way to do it - so you can generally expect to see it in many of the textbooks you'll encounter.
If I were to produce such a book, my reasoning would be a bit different from that of BrianH. In using any such book for a course, I would probably assign only questions that did not have answers in the answer key.
But I would encourage the students to use a tried and true learning technique: reinforcement and feedback. The extra problems, while not assigned, give those students who want the practice (all of them do need it, actually) the opportunity to work on some additional problems and then check their work. If they got the correct answer they have additional confidence in their learning. If they did not, then they want to come and see me to find out where they went wrong - additional reinforcement and feedback.
I would, of course, stress that there is a good way and a bad way to use the answers. Working toward a known answer is far less valuable than working out an unknown answer. Not every student would 'get it' but the opportunity is there for them.
The other answers cover what I think is the main reason, but I want to bring up something else: Putting solutions into a textbook is a lot of work; the editors have to find the solutions, write them up, typeset them, and someone has to proofread them. On the other hand, the additional benefit of another solution becomes pretty small once half the problems have solutions, especially in those textbooks that feature a lot of rather repetitive problems.
Between them, the authors have spent more than 100 years using various textbook solutions manuals. In our experience, none are without errors. If you happen to find one in our solutions manual, do let us know.
Since you cite Rudin I'd like to note in advance that many consider his books on analysis among the best, and I don't think it is a coincidence that someone writing books which do get that attention and appreciation follows this practice.
Something everyone learning mathematics (not only there) has to learn is the reality (from which you are well protected at school) that you will usually (not sometimes, usually) face problems which you cannot solve. Maybe not at all, at least not with the first attempts or with little effort. You have to find your way to the solution one way or the other, either by thinking harder and smarter, by talking to people, whatever. But you don't get it for free, in real life. Almost never. It is an experience of people who teach (not just math), that this fact has to be taught as well, unless they want to produce many many people leaving university who will then have to learn it too late the hard way.
And, no insult intended, one word of advice: if you find you really need the solutions to make your way through such books, you may want to consider whether you've really chosen the right topic for you.
And one additional remark: why do you need the solution? By working seriously on a problem you may learn more -- even if you cannot solve it -- than by looking up the answer (and, very likely, missing most of the subtleties).
I personally think having the answers is beneficial. Even if you are confident in your methods, you may have made a dumb mistake (or have a flawed understanding). Usually if you are on top of the course, you can check the answer and if wrong, rework the problem correctly (if needed, checking the book). Also, working problems can be a chore--having immediate feedback is good psychology.
Note that many classic books have the answers in the back (Poly anything, Granville calculus, Hart College Algebra). This used to be much more the norm. I think the change is more of a commercial one and one that emphasizes the primacy of gatekeepers rather than of learning. [I'm sure the professors tell themselves they care about learning and are warding off lazy students, but how many of them really collect and grade daily homework in sufficient quantities to drive needed learning?]
I think Maths textbooks should, at the very least least, provide hints on how to tackle the excercises. I disagree with the argument that students of maths will benefit from the "life lesson" that they aren't as smart as they'd like to be. Most of them have enough humility to know that already. Very often, the exercises make mathematical points that do not come across from the main text, and if the student cannot tackle the exercise, he/she will miss out.
The fact is that most students of maths are not destined to be professors of the subject. Nevertheless they need to gain a good understanding of the subject in a limited space of time and do not always have access to a tutor. When they encounter a textbook exercise they cannot complete, they will lose confidence in a book they have paid a lot of money for and, even worse, they lose confidence in themselves.
Many years ago, when I was a first-year undergraduate in maths, one of my lecturers kicked off his course by saying "The first rule of buying mathematics books is don't bother". He then went on to say that most of them are written by second-raters who need the money. Cynical perhaps, but I do think there is an arrogance amongst some authors who have little or no empathy for the average student for whom maths is just one of many subjects that he or she has to master.
The downloadable files below, in PDF format, contain answers to all the problems from the textbook (11th edition). Extensive MATLAB code snippets are included in many of the problems, and may be accessed and copied from the PDF file using standard computer copy-and-paste procedures (e.g., Ctrl-C of the highlighted code).
To download an individual chapter PDF file to your computer, click on a chapter heading below, and then save the file when prompted. Or, to download the entire solution set in one file (178 MB), click on the "Combined Solutions" link below.
NOTE: In compliance with copyright law, no portion of the text was copied and inserted into the solution files. Problems and solutions are numbered according to the text, but please refer to the text for the explicit statement of the problem.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (/ˈwaɪli/), is an American multinational publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in print and electronically, as well as online products and services,[2] training materials, and educational materials for undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education students.[3]
The company was established in 1807 when Charles Wiley opened a print shop in Manhattan. The company was the publisher of 19th century American literary figures like James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as of legal, religious, and other non-fiction titles. The firm took its current name in 1865. Wiley later shifted its focus to scientific, technical, and engineering subject areas, abandoning its literary interests.[4]
Wiley's son John (born in Flatbush, New York, October 4, 1808; died in East Orange, New Jersey, February 21, 1891) took over the business when Charles Wiley died in 1826. The firm was successively named Wiley, Lane & Co., then Wiley & Putnam, and then John Wiley. The company acquired its present name in 1876, when John's second son William H. Wiley joined his brother Charles in the business.[4][5]
Wiley marked its bicentennial in 2007.[14] In conjunction with the anniversary, the company published Knowledge for Generations: Wiley and the Global Publishing Industry, 1807-2007, depicting Wiley's role in the evolution of publishing against a social, cultural, and economic backdrop. Wiley has also created an online community called Wiley Living History, offering excerpts from Knowledge for Generations and a forum for visitors and Wiley employees to post their comments and anecdotes.
In December 2010, Wiley opened an office in Dubai.[18] Wiley established publishing operations in India in 2006 (though it has had a sales presence since 1966), and has established a presence in North Africa through sales contracts with academic institutions in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt.[19] On April 16, 2012, the company announced the establishment of Wiley Brasil Editora LTDA in So Paulo, Brazil, effective May 1, 2012.[20]
Wiley's scientific, technical, and medical business was expanded by the acquisition of Blackwell Publishing in February 2007 for US$1.12 billion, its largest purchase to that time.[21][22][self-published source?] The combined business, named Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly (also known as Wiley-Blackwell), publishes, in print and online, 1,600 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books, reference works, databases, and laboratory manuals in the life and physical sciences, medicine and allied health, engineering, the humanities, and the social sciences.[23]
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