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AOPS Pre-Alg: Is On-line book necessary / helpful?


Porridge
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I'm preparing to purchase AOPS Pre-Alg and saw that there is a online book available. This is not an online class. It looks like just an online copy of the text and solutions. Do people find that the online book offers any advantages over the paper copy? It seems like it would be more portable - you don't have to lug 600+ pages around with you -- but are there any advantages other than portability?

 

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It has links to answers and related videos, but if it is a choice between the two I would get the hard copy. We usually get both versions because we travel a lot, but if we did not I would stick with the physical copy.

Edited by bibiche
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Hard copy...the physical act of turning and feeling pages increases encoding of information in the brain and by extension retention. While I have no problem with screens, I prefer to minimize and not maximize usage as it messes with your eyes and ability to sleep if done excessively.

 

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but are there any advantages other than portability?

We didn't get the online prealgebra book because there wasn't an online version when my oldest started AoPS. However at 8 years old, large print classics were great for him. I also downloaded books from Gutenberg or internet archive because he could zoom in/ make the font size larger on his iPad. When the online version came out, I bought the intermediate algebra, intro to geometry for him. Now he has the online versions of precalculus and calculus as well. Even now at 12, he sometimes still enlarge the text on the iPad screen and he is nearsighted. He has all the hardcopy version of the books as well.

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An advantage of the online versions is they have all the error corrections to date.  I think this is more of an issue with the later books, and if you are (like me) really super concerned if there is a tiny error and I don't trust myself to know whether it's a typo or my own mistake.  I'm not even sure they are updating the AoPS errata pages anymore.  

 

I do like the paper copy, but we keep an electronic copy so we can check for what we think are errors and also so I can do prep while one of the kids is also using the book.  

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I'm not even sure they are updating the AoPS errata pages anymore. 

 

Yes, the AoPS errata pages are updated as necessary, with any new errors fixed in the next printing of the book.  Here is the link to the errata pages:

http://artofproblemsolving.com/booklinks

If any of you finds an error in one of the books, you can report it to the email address listed on that book's errata page.  If it's for the Prealgebra book specifically, you can alternatively message me.  It's been more than 2 years since we last found an error in the Prealgebra book. 

 

Edited by Ravi B
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We have online editions of Intro C&P and Intro Geom. my DD prefers them because you can enter in the "problems" and "exercises" and see solutions right away. Also (with C&P at least and I'm assuming Intro Alg and PreA) the videos are embedded so it's very seamless. Necessary? No. Just a format preference. We still bought textbooks because the cost to add ebook was low and textbooks are easy to use offline and resellable.

Edited by Targhee
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