Are the newest version of textbooks usually required?

[shinny]

any good uni text ebooks site?

http://www.studytemple.com/forum/

I haven't had to buy many books this year solely because of that site =\

[ReVeL]

Haha first semester I bought all my textbooks completely new (around $400), I reckon I got about $100 or less value from them. Like previously mentioned, it depends on the subject which is why I would advise you wait for the first few lectures/tute to get a feel for if you will actually need it. That is, if the lecturer is stressing for you to complete certain chapters each week then I would probably buy the newest one but if not, no textbook or an old one would be absolutely fine.

[humph]

google 'maths complete' - 5gb of maths books

Most of them are rubbish though.

I usually search for particular books that I need - there are programs out there that can convert google books into pdf, which is handy.

[Collin Li]

I never even use textbooks. I read them near the beginning of semester due to the glow of purchase, but never use them from my 2-3 day cram rituals.

[Ahmad]

I've got a Calculus textbook - Stewart's Calculus 4th edition  but the 6th edition has been out for a while.

The topics that are taught in calculus have not changed for a long time. The content will be more or less the same, ideas and proofs are timeless; think Euclid's Elements. I have Thomas/Finney's "Calculus and Analytic Geometry" 7th edition, which I believe was published in 1988 and am quite certain will cover the same material as any newer edition.

Also, with maths texts, it's often possible to find a pdf version online with some crafty googling

www.gigapedia.org has become the standard (need to register, but it's free).