This web page describes an activity within the Department of Mathematics at Ohio University, but is not an official university web page.
If you have difficulty accessing these materials due to visual impairment, please email me at mohlenka@ohio.edu; an alternative format may be available.

Alternative Book Initiative

Mainstream publisher textbook prices are too high. There are alternative books and materials that are free or nearly so. Here we collect some of these alternatives.

Some good collections of materials

the American Institute of Mathematics Open Textbook Initiative
MIT OpenCourseWare Bookshelf
a collection of ebooks at bookboon.com
ebooks available through the university library, including the open textbook library and SpringerLink
openstax college
freebookcentre

Courses/Instructors already using open materials

(Likely incomplete.)

Course/Instructor	Book/Materials
MATH 1300 Pre-Calculus	College Algebra. Free pdf. $17.72 print on demand. Developed and used at an Ohio community college so should align with TAGS. Trigonometry; continues College Algebra to make PreCalculus. Free pdf. $11.36 print on demand. Developed and used at an Ohio community college so should align with TAGS.
MATH 3400 Elementary Differential Equations (Young, Boczko)	Notes on Diffy Qs. Free pdf and web versions. $16.78 print on demand. Associated with a free software ODE tool.
MATH 3600 Applied Numerical Methods	Introduction to Numerical Methods and Matlab Programming for Engineers. Free pdf book. Developed in-house. Used many times.
MATH 4510 Applied Statistics (Shen)	Rand R. Wilcox. Fundamentals of Modern Statistical Methods. Edition: Electronic. Publisher: Springer. This book can be downloaded through Alden Library, at NO COST to the student, at: [ISBN: 9781441955258]. Required. It can be downloaded from Alden Lib Joaquim P. Marques de Sa. Applied Statistics: Using SPSS, Statistica, MATLAB and R. Edition: Electronic. Publisher: Springer. Required. It can be downloaded from Alden lib
MATH 4500 Theory of Statistics and MATH 4510 Applied Statistics (Lin)	Modern Mathematical Statistics with Applications, by Jay L. DevoreKenneth N. Berk. Free download from SpringerLink (while on campus). $24.99 softcover printed.

Courses with available open materials

(Some information is out-of-date.)

Course	Current Book	Sample alternative Book/Materials
MATH 1200 College Algebra	Julie Miller. College Algebra Essentials. Edition: 1st. Publisher: McGraw-Hill. This is a special package which comes with a paperback version of the textbook as well as ConnectMath, hosted by ALEKS and LearnSmart. [ISBN: 9781259168437]. Approximate Price: $92.00. Required.	College Algebra. Free pdf. $17.72 print on demand. Developed and used at an Ohio community college so should align with TAGS.
MATH 2301 Calculus I MATH 2302 Calculus II MATH 3300 Calculus III	J. Stewart. Essential Calculus: Early Transcendentals. Edition: 2nd. Publisher: Cengage. [ISBN: 9781133112280]. List price $325 but we get it for $138.50 including WebAssign. If using WebAssign it comes with on online (not easily printable) version of the text for $100 for one semester or $125 for multi-term.	See our Calculus Textbook Consideration.
MATH 2500 Introduction to Statistics	Johnson and Bhattacharyya. Statistics: Principles and Methods. Edition: 7th. Publisher: Wiley. $205.50	OpenIntro Statistics. Free pdf and $7.60 printed. Includes videos, labs, etc.
MATH 3110 College Geometry	David Kay. College Geometry. Edition: 2 edition. Publisher: Addison Wesley. November 15, 2000. [ISBN: 9780321046246]. Approximate Price: $95.33. Required. Leonard Mlodinow. Euclid's Window. Edition: 1st. Publisher: Simon and Schuster. [ISBN: 9780684865246]. Approximate Price: $15.00. Required.	Introduction to Axiomatic Geometry. Free pdf book. Printed version $29.10 including tax. Developed in-house. Used some(?) times.
MATH 3200 Applied Linear Algebra	Carl Meyer. Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra. Edition: 1st. Publisher: SIAM: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. February 15, 2001. [ISBN: 9780898714548]. [ISBN: 0898714540]. Approximate Price: $103.00. Required.	Linear Algebra. Free pdf. $12.40 printed on Amazon.
MATH 3210 Linear Algebra	Friedberg, Insel and Spence. Linear Algebra. Edition: 4th. Publisher: Pearson Prentice Hall. [ISBN: 9780130084514]. Approximate Price: $169.33. Required.	A First Course in Linear Algebra. For math majors. Free pdf. Enhanced online version may make it worth teaching in a computer lab.
MATH 3320 Vector Analysis	Marsden and Tromba. Vector Calculus. Edition: 5th ed. Publisher: W.H. Freeman. 2003. [ISBN: 0716749920]. Approximate Price: $159.95. Required.	An Introduction to Vector Analysis. Developed in-house; used several times. $17.95 paperback.
MATH 3500 Probability	Sheldon M. Ross. A First Course In Probability. Edition: 9th Edition. 2013. I advice to search online, there are some editions at third of the tag price. [ISBN: 9780321794772]. Approximate Price: $170.67. Required.	Introduction to Probability. Free pdf, can print. Hardcover $60 ($48 members) from AMS.

Martin J. Mohlenkamp

Last modified: Tue Dec 11 14:36:30 UTC 2018