For professors who are tired of having their students buy expensive textbooks and for students who don’t like buying them, one Iowa State department may provide an answer.

Iowa State’s International Institute Of Theoretical and Applied Physics (IITAP) has recently released a full-text version of a physics textbook on the World Wide Web.

The textbook, titled “Physics — The Root of Science,” is an experiment that combines traditional textbook methods with new information technology, a press release said.

James Vary, acting director of IITAP, said he hopes placing the book on the World Wide Web will help eliminate barriers to its use and bring about more higher learning.

“By putting the book on the Web, we break down geographic barriers to its use and encourage higher levels of learning world wide,” he said.

The project is important to IITAP’s goal of spreading knowledge and increasing opportunity around the world, the press release stated.

There are more features in store for the Web version of the book which include on-line video clips of experiments and several interactive learning modules.

“What is significant about this book is that it is presented on-line along with applications in industry and everyday consumer products,” Vary said.

IITAP hopes the applications motivate more students to want to learn physics.

If a student has at least one year of pre-calculus at the advanced high school, community college or undergraduate level, they should be well-equipped to work with the textbook.

Vary said IITAP is working on other Web textbooks for the future, including a calculus book.

“This type of project is very important to IITAP because it lets us spread knowledge and increase opportunity,” Vary said.

The full text of “Physics — The Root of Science” is available for browsing at http://www.physics.iastate.edu/prs/prs.html by downloading the text and viewing it through a portable document viewer. The site also includes links to other network-based information and an order form for hard copies of the book along with two supplements.

IITAP, is an international physics center in partnership with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization. First created in 1993, it is only the second institute of its type in the world.