Where to get spivak calculus solutions?

[tridianprime]

The title basically says it all but basically the 3rd edition of the book is missing a lot of solutions i would like to know to check my results and do you know where i could find them. I tried the solutions manual but that misses a lot as well.

 

[berkeman]

You're not asking for the Instructor Solution Manual, are you?

 

[tridianprime]

What is that?

 

[berkeman]

The title basically says it all but basically the 3rd edition of the book is missing a lot of solutions i would like to know to check my results and do you know where i could find them. I tried the solutions manual but that misses a lot as well.

What is that?

It is the textbook solution manual that is only available to instructors. It is generally against academic rules for students to obtain instructor solution manuals, so we do not support requests for such materials here on the PF.

There are some specialized solution manuals for students for some textbooks, and instructors know about them so that they can avoid assigning any problems for homework that are covered by the student solution manual.

 

[tridianprime]

Does the fact that I'm 15 and self studying with no access to an instructor make any difference. What would you do in my case?

 

[tridianprime]

Also, out of curiosity, why is the 3rd edition the only one available easily, here in the UK anyway, and not the 4th?

 

[jgens]

No idea why one edition is more ubiquitous in the UK than another and you should avoid using a solution manual for something like Spivak. Part of learning the material is really struggling with it and solution manuals tend to discourage that. You also need to learn sanity checks on your solution once you have one and solutions manuals tend to discourage this as well. So I would seriously consider just not getting the solutions manual. In any case though, there is a manual available via amazon.

 

[tridianprime]

Ok, I will try that but how will I know if I have actually got it right? Is it obvious when you have done so?

 

[jgens]

That is a genuine difficulty, since determining whether or not your solution is correct can be challenging, especially when you first learn the material. One of the advantages of the internet, however, is that you have access to communities like PF and MSE. Once you have a solution and have checked it, you can always ask the forum members to check your solution too, and if there are problems with it then they can point them out to you. In my opinion, this is much better than just using a solutions manual, since this way you have the opportunity to correct your argument on your own.

 

[tridianprime]

Thanks, that seems a good idea.

 

[berkeman]

Does the fact that I'm 15 and self studying with no access to an instructor make any difference. What would you do in my case?

Kudos to you!

But no, it doesn't really change the fact that Instructor Solution Manuals are for Instructors. I think you can appreciate how students in classes could cheat and artificially raise their scores on homework if they had access to Instructor Solution Manuals. That is why publishers and schools try to be careful about handling of such manuals.

I'm not familiar with Spivak -- does it have the answers to half of the problems in the back of the book?

 

[tridianprime]

yes, only half.

 

[berkeman]

yes, only half.

So that's a good start, at least. The textbooks that have no solutions at all to their work problems are more of a hassle.

And remember with calculus, you can often check your answer by differentiating or integrating the solution...

 

[jgens]

And remember with calculus, you can often check your answer by differentiating or integrating the solution...

Unfortunately Spivak is a proof based book, so this check seldom works on the problems

 

[tridianprime]

True, I think I'll just get my head down and if I really do have an issue ill ask for feedback on my solutions from PF. Thanks.

 

[jbunniii]

There's a solution book which can be purchased by anyone, not just instructors:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0914098950/?tag=pfamazon01-20

It is for the 3rd and 4th editions combined. Is that the one you already checked?

 

[tridianprime]

Yes, it was good for most but there were a few I found missing which happened to be the ones I was not sure of my solution on . For all other purposes though, that does the job!