Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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The STEM Advantage: Career Planning and Internship Strategies for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Postgraduate Students
Ben Archer · James Cook University · 2025
This comprehensive guide bridges the gap between academic learning and professional application, offering a structured framework developed through experiences of students successfully completing their internship programs. Educators and students alike will benefit from practical methodologies that transform theoretical knowledge into workplace readiness, with strategic guidance for creating personalised career trajectories and maximising internship experiences.
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Mathematics Methods for Early Childhood
Janet Stramel · Fort Hays State University · 2021
Welcome to Early Childhood Mathematics! This course satisfies the Early Childhood Unified requirements in the state of Kansas for a teaching license Birth to Grade 3. Most people agree that early childhood includes the period from infancy until eight years of age, characterized by rapid and complex growth in physical, cognitive, and social domains. Math skills must be taught in early childhood. Children should be provided a foundation to succeed in elementary school and beyond. Teachers should focus lessons in early childhood around the basic skills that will help to advance future mathematics. From preschool to the end of elementary school, children are setting the foundation for future life skills. Learning mathematics is “a ‘natural’ and developmentally appropriate activity for young children” (Ginsberg, Lee, and Boyd, 2008). Through their everyday interactions with the world, many children develop informal concepts about space, quantity, size, patterns, and operations. Unfortunately, not all children have the same opportunities to build these informal and foundational concepts of mathematics in their day-to-day lives (Sherman-LeVos, 2010). Young children are naturally curious, and the best time to begin mathematics is at a time while the young child’s brain is rapidly developing. Mathematics in early childhood helps children develop critical thinking and reasoning skills early on and it’s the key to the foundation for success in their formal schooling years.
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Mathematics for Elementary Teachers
Michelle Manes · University of Hawaii Manoa · 2017
This book will help you to understand elementary mathematics more deeply, gain facility with creating and using mathematical notation, develop a habit of looking for reasons and creating mathematical explanations, and become more comfortable exploring unfamiliar mathematical situations.The primary goal of this book is to help you learn to think like a mathematician in some very specific ways. You will:• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. You will develop and demonstrate this skill by working on difficult problems, making incremental progress, and revising solutions to problems as you learn more.• Reason abstractly and quantitatively. You will demonstrate this skill by learning to represent situations using mathematical notation (abstraction) as well as creating and testing examples (making situations more concrete).• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. You will be expected to create both written and verbal explanations for your solutions to problems. The most important questions in this class are “Why?” and “How do you know you're right?” Practice asking these questions of yourself, of your professor, and of your fellow students.Throughout the book, you will learn how to learn mathematics on you own by reading, working on problems, and making sense of new ideas on your own and in collaboration with other students in the class.
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Discrete Mathematics for Information Technology
Simon Crothers · Kwantlen Polytechnic University · 2026
Discrete Mathematics for Information Technology is an applied, student-focused introduction to the mathematical foundations that underpin modern computing. Designed for learners in information technology and business contexts, this textbook bridges theory and practice by connecting core concepts, such as number systems, data representation, logic, proofs, relations, algorithms, Boolean algebra, and graph theory, to real-world applications in programming, networking, databases, and systems design. Each chapter is structured with clear explanations, worked examples, case studies, and programming-oriented exercises that reinforce both conceptual understanding and practical skills. Emphasis is placed on developing analytical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to model and reason about digital systems with precision and confidence. As an open educational resource, the text is adaptable and accessible, supporting a wide range of teaching and learning environments. By integrating mathematical rigor with authentic IT scenarios, this book equips students with the essential tools needed to succeed in modern, data-driven and technology-focused careers.
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Self-directed multimodal learning in higher education
Jako Olivier · AOSIS Publishing · 2020
This book aims to provide an overview of theoretical and practical considerations in terms of self-directed multimodal learning within the university context. Multimodal learning is approached in terms of the levels of multimodality and specifically blended learning and the mixing of modes of delivery (contact and distance education). As such, this publication will provide a unique snapshot of multimodal practices within higher education through a self-directed learning epistemological lens. The book covers issues such as what self-directed multimodal learning entails, mapping of specific publications regarding blended learning, blended learning in mathematics, geography, natural science and computer literacy, comparative experiences in distance education as well as situated and culturally appropriate learning in multimodal contexts. This book provides a unique focus on multimodality in terms of learning and delivery within the context of self-directed learning. Therefore, the publication would not only advance the scholarship of blended and open distance learning in South Africa, but also the contribute to enriching the discourse regarding self-direction. From this book readers will get an impression of the latest trends in literature in terms of multimodal self-directed learning in South Africa as well as unique empirical work being done in this regard.
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International Economics: Theory and Policy
Steve Suranovic · Saylor Foundation · 2012
This text strives to reach a median between these two approaches. First, I believe that students need to learn the theory and models to understand how economists understand the world. I also think these ideas are accessible to most students if they are explained thoroughly. This text presents numerous models in some detail, not by employing advanced mathematics, but rather by walking students through a detailed description of how a model's assumptions influence its conclusions. Second, and perhaps more important, students must learn how the models connect with the real world. I believe that theory is done primarily to guide policy. We do positive economics to help answer the normative questions; for example, what should a country do about its trade policy or its exchange rate policy? The results from models give us insights that help us answer these questions. Thus this text strives to explain why each model is interesting by connecting its results to some aspect of a current policy issue. A prime example is found in Chapter 11 "Evaluating the Controversy between Free Trade and Protectionism" of this book, which addresses the age-old question of whether countries should choose free trade or some type of selected protection. The chapter demonstrates how the results of the various models presented throughout the text contribute to our understanding of this long-standing debate.
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International Trade: Theory and Policy
Steve Suranovic · Saylor Foundation · 2010
International Trade: Theory and Policy is built on Steve Suranovic's belief that to understand the international economy, students need to learn how economic models are applied to real world problems. It is true what they say, that ”economists do it with models.“ That's because economic models provide insights about the world that are simply not obtainable solely by discussion of the issues. International Trade: Theory and Policy presents a variety of international trade models including the Ricardian model, the Heckscher-Ohlin model, and the monopolistic competition model. It includes trade policy analysis in both perfectly competitive and imperfectly competitive markets. The text also addresses current issues such as free trade area formation and administered protection policies. The models are developed, not by employing advanced mathematics, but rather by walking students through a detailed description of how a model's assumptions influence its conclusions. But more importantly, each model and theory is connected to real world policy issues. The main purpose of the text is to provide a thorough grounding in the arguments concerning the age-old debate about free trade versus protectionism. This text has the following unique features: The text begins with an historical overview of trade policy issues to provide context for the theory. The text concludes with a detailed economic argument supporting free trade.The welfare analysis in the Ricardian, Heckscher-Ohlin and specific factors models emphasize the redistributive effects of free trade by calculating changes in real incomes.The trade policy chapter provides a comprehensive look at many more trade policies than are found in a printed textbook. A chapter about domestic policies contains an evaluation of domestic taxes and subsidies that are often ignored in traditional trade textbooks but are increasingly important as large countries complain more about each other's domestic agriculture policies and labor and en
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Mechanics and Relativity
Timon Idema · TU Delft Open · 2018
In Mechanics and Relativity, the reader is taken on a tour through time and space. Starting from the basic axioms formulated by Newton and Einstein, the theory of motion at both the everyday and the highly relativistic level is developed without the need of prior knowledge. The relevant mathematics is provided in an appendix. The text contains various worked examples and a large number of original problems to help the reader develop an intuition for the physics. Applications covered in the book span a wide range of physical phenomena, including rocket motion, spinning tennis rackets and high-energy particle collisions.
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Threshold Concepts in Biochemistry
Julian Pakay; Hendrika Duivenvoorden; Thomas Shafee; Kaitlin Clarke · La Trobe University · 2023
Biochemistry (and Molecular Biology) represent one of the fastest-growing fields of scientific research and technical innovation and the resulting biotechnology is increasingly applied to other fields of study. So, an understanding of Biochemistry is increasingly important for students in all biological disciplines. However, at the same time, the content is inherently complex, highly abstract, and often deeply rooted in the pure sciences – mathematics, chemistry, and physics. This makes it difficult to both learn and to teach. This book is designed as a succinct and focused resource, specifically aimed to help students grasp key threshold concepts in Biochemistry. Due to their troublesome nature, understanding threshold concepts is a cognitively demanding task. By using a series of thematically linked case studies that accompany theory, the cognitive load will be reduced. This will free up students to focus on learning concepts rather than distracting them with unnecessary specifics.
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All Things Flow: Fluid Mechanics for the Natural Sciences
William Smyth · Oregon State University · 2019
This book began as lecture notes for an Oregon State University course in fluid mechanics, designed for beginning graduate students in physical oceanography. Because of its fundamental nature, this course is often taken by students outside physical oceanography, e.g., atmospheric science, civil engineering, physics and mathematics. In later courses, the student will discover esoteric fluid phenomena such as internal waves that propagate through the sky, water phase changes that govern clouds, and planetary rotation effects that control large-scale winds and ocean currents. In contrast, this course concerns phenomena that we have all been familiar with since childhood: flows you see in sinks and bathtubs, in rivers, and at the beach. In this context, we develop the mathematical techniques and scientific reasoning skills needed for higher-level courses and professional research.
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The Adventure of Physics - Vol. V: Motion Inside Matter - Pleasure, Technology, and Stars
Christoph Schiller · Motion Mountain · 1990
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity about how bodies, images and empty space move leads to many adventures. This volume presents the best adventures about the motion inside people, inside animals, and inside any other type of matter – from the largest stars to the smallest nuclei. Motion inside bodies – dead or alive – is described by quantum theory. Quantum theory describes all motion with the quantum of action h, the smallest change observed in nature. Building on this basic idea, the text first shows how to describe life, death and pleasure. Then, the text explains the observations of chemistry, materials science, astrophysics and particle physics. In the structure of physics, these topics correspond to the three ‘quantum' points in Figure 1. The story of motion inside living and non-living matter, from the coldest gases to the hottest stars, is told here in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating. In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate. In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature. In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read- ing a book on physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick. When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents at least one sur- prise that makes the reader think. Also numerous interesting challenges are proposed. The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify thing
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The Adventure of Physics - Vol. IV: The Quantum of Change
Christoph Schiller · Motion Mountain · 1990
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Have you ever asked: Why do people, animals, things, images and space move? The answer leads to many adventures; this volume presents those due to the discovery that there is a smallest change value in nature. This smallest change value, the quantum of action, leads to what is called quantum physics. In the structure of modern physics, quantum physics covers three points; this volume covers the introduction to the point in the lower right: the foundations of quantum theory. The present introduction to quantum physics arose from a threefold aim I have pursued since 1990: to present the basics of motion in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating. In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate. In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature. In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read- ing a book on general physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick. When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents at least one surprise or provocation for the reader to think about. Numerous interesting challenges are proposed. The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify things.' Clarifying things – and adhering only to the truth – requires courage, as changing the habits of thought produces fear, often hidden by anger. But by overcoming our fears we grow in strength. And we experience inte
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The Adventure of Physics - Vol. III: Light, Charges, and Brains
Christoph Schiller · Motion Mountain · 1990
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity about how people, animals, things, images and space move leads to many adventures. This volume presents the adventures one encounters when exploring everything electric. The story ranges from the weighing of electric current to the use of magnetic fields to heal bone fractures and up to the understanding of the human brain. In the structure of physics, shown in Figure 1, motion due to electricity is the most fascinating aspect of the starting point at the bottom. Indeed, almost everything around us is due to electric processes. The present introduction to electricity, magnetism, light and the brain is the third of a six-volume overview of physics that arose from a threefold aim that I have pursued since 1990: to present motion in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating. In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate. In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature. In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read- ing a book on general physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick. When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents at least one surprise or provocation for the reader to think about. Numerous interesting challenges are proposed. The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify things.' Clar- ifying things – and adhering only to the truth – requires courage, as
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The Adventure of Physics - Vol. II: Relativity
Christoph Schiller · Motion Mountain · 1990
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity about how people, animals, things, images and empty space move leads to many adven- tures. This volume presents the best of them in the domains of relativity and cosmology. In the study of motion – physics – special and general relativity form two important building blocks. Special relativity is the exploration of the energy speed limit c. General relativity is the exploration of the force limit c4/4G. The text shows that in both domains, all equations follow from these two limit values. This simple, intuitive and unusual way of learning relativity should reward the curiosity of every reader – whether student or professional. The present volume is the second of a six-volume overview of physics that arose from a threefold aim that I have pursued since 1990: to present motion in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating. In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate. In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature. In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read- ing a book on general physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick. When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents at least one surprise or provocation for the reader to think about. Numerous interesting challenges are proposed. The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify things.' Clar- ifying things – and ad
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The Adventure of Physics - Vol. I: Fall, Flow, and Heat
Christoph Schiller · Motion Mountain · 1990
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity about how people, animals, things, images and space move leads to many adventures. This volume presents the best of them in the domain of everyday life. Carefully observing everyday motion allows us to deduce six essential statements: everyday motion is continuous, conserved, relative, reversible, mirror-invariant – and lazy. Yes, nature is indeed lazy: in every motion, it minimizes change. This text explores how these six results are deduced and how they fit with all those observations that seem to contradict them. In the structure of modern physics, shown in Figure 1, the results on everyday motion form the major part of the starting point at the bottom. The present volume is the first of a six-volume overview of physics. It resulted from a threefold aim I have pursued since 1990: to present motion in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating. In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate. In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature. In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read- ing a book on general physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick. When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents at least one surprise or provocation for the reader to think about. Numerous interesting challenges are proposed. The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify things.' C
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Precalculus
David Collingwood; K. Prince; Matthew Conroy · A.T. Still University · 2016
Prior to 1990, the performance of a student in precalculus at the University of Washington was not a predictor of success in calculus. For this reason, the mathematics department set out to create a new course with a specific set of goals in mind: A review of the essential mathematics needed to succeed in calculus. An emphasis on problem solving, the idea being to gain both experience and confidence in working with a particular set of mathematical tools. This text was created to achieve these goals and the 2004-05 academic year marks the eleventh year in which it has been used. Several thousand students have successfully passed through the course. This book is full of worked out examples. We use the the notation “Soluion.” to indicate where the reasoning for a problem begins; the symbol ?? is used to indicate the end of the solution to a problem. There is a Table of Contents that is useful in helping you find a topic treated earlier in the course. It is also a good rough outline when it comes time to study for the final examination. The book also includes an index at the end. Finally, there is an appendix at the end of the text with ”answers” to most of the problems in the text. It should be emphasized these are ”answers” as opposed to ”solutions”. Any homework problems you may be asked to turn in will require you include all your work; in other words, a detailed solution. Simply writing down the answer from the back of the text would never be sufficient; the answers are intended to be a guide to help insure you are on the right track.
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Multivariable Calculus
Don Shimamoto · Don Shimamoto · 2019
This book covers the standard material for a one-semester course in multivariable calculus. The topics include curves, differentiability and partial derivatives, multiple integrals, vector fields, line and surface integrals, and the theorems of Green, Stokes, and Gauss. Roughly speaking the book is organized into three main parts corresponding to the type of function being studied: vector-valued functions of one variable, real-valued functions of many variables, and finally the general case of vector-valued functions of many variables. As is always the case, the most productive way for students to learn is by doing problems, and the book is written to get to the exercises as quickly as possible. The presentation is geared towards students who enjoy learning mathematics for its own sake. As a result, there is a priority placed on understanding why things are true and a recognition that, when details are sketched or omitted, that should be acknowledged. Otherwise the level of rigor is fairly normal. Matrices are introduced and used freely. Prior experience with linear algebra is helpful, but not required.
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Mathematical Analysis I
Elias Zakon · The Trillia Group · 2004
This award-winning text carefully leads the student through the basic topics of Real Analysis. Topics include metric spaces, open and closed sets, convergent sequences, function limits and continuity, compact sets, sequences and series of functions, power series, differentiation and integration, Taylor's theorem, total variation, rectifiable arcs, and sufficient conditions of integrability. Well over 500 exercises (many with extensive hints) assist students through the material. For students who need a review of basic mathematical concepts before beginning "epsilon-delta"-style proofs, the text begins with material on set theory (sets, quantifiers, relations and mappings, countable sets), the real numbers (axioms, natural numbers, induction, consequences of the completeness axiom), and Euclidean and vector spaces; this material is condensed from the author's Basic Concepts of Mathematics, the complete version of which can be used as supplementary background material for the present text.
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Tea Time Numerical Analysis
Leon Brin · Leon Q. Brin · 2016
This textbook was born of a desire to contribute a viable, free, introductory Numerical Analysis textbook for instructors and students of mathematics. The ultimate goal of Tea Time Numerical Analysis is to be a complete, one-semester, single-pdf, downloadable textbook designed for mathematics classes. Now includes differential equations. Over 350 pages Over 1000 lines of code Over 200 figures Open source
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College Algebra & Trigonometry
Richard Beveridge · Richard W. Beveridge · 2018
This College Algebra text will cover a combination of classical algebra and analytic geometry, with an introduction to the transcendental exponential and logarithmic functions. If mathematics is the language of science, then algebra is the grammar of that language. Like grammar, algebra provides a structure to mathematical notation, in addition to its uses in problem solving and its ability to change the appearance of an expression without changing the value.