It is a problem all over,,, Much that I teach is algorithms, in a computer science department. In a sense the situation is worse than you describe, since we (and many other departments) use the same text, CLRS (four authors) for both ugrad and grad courses. It is possible, with a judicious use of math. As in your case, solutions are all over the internet, with an important distinction that you do not mention: many are poor to wrong, posted by enthusiastic students, and occasionally even TAs. But it is genuinely the best book around that I know; I warn the students, but you can imagine how much that helps. What makes it even more exasperating is that even at nearly 1300 pages, its coverage, while classical, misses numerous interesting areas, entire swathes of algorithmics.
(I am a lapsed physicist, vintage 1965, tried and failed to remember which text was used in my ugrad E&M class. Possibly Epstein... I remember liking it, but not as much as the mechanics text, by Goldstein. Absolutely no first names surface.)
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branchandroot
Indusrty standard extbook...
Date: Sunday, 20 March 2011 21:07 (UTC)Much that I teach is algorithms, in a computer science department. In a sense the situation is worse than you describe, since we (and many other departments) use the same text, CLRS (four authors) for both ugrad and grad courses. It is possible, with a judicious use of math. As in your case, solutions are all over the internet, with an important distinction that you do not mention: many are poor to wrong, posted by enthusiastic students, and occasionally even TAs. But it is genuinely the best book around that I know; I warn the students, but you can imagine how much that helps. What makes it even more exasperating is that even at nearly 1300 pages, its coverage, while classical, misses numerous interesting areas, entire swathes of algorithmics.
(I am a lapsed physicist, vintage 1965, tried and failed to remember which text was used in my ugrad E&M class. Possibly Epstein... I remember liking it, but not as much as the mechanics text, by Goldstein. Absolutely no first names surface.)