Several important changes are coming to Active Calculus (Single Variable) in time for the Fall 2025 semester, including a new Second Edition; at the same time, the current versions will remain fully available for the foreseeable future. If you are currently teaching with AC using the HTML at https://activecalculus.org/single/ and don’t want to make any changes, you won’t need to do anything other than update the link from which you access the HTML. The new, stable URL for the current version’s HTML (which going forward will be called the First Edition) is already available: https://activecalculus.org/single1e/. If you are using AC-alternate with the different Chapter 8, that version’s HTML will continue to be available at https://activecalculus.org/acs-8a/.
[This paragraph was updated on August 7:] The new 2nd edition of Active Calculus (Single) is now posted in HTML and PDF at activecalculus.org/acs2e/.
The second edition will only be available in electronic form (HTML and PDF) for the fall semester, with a new print version forthcoming in January 2026. Free PDFs of the second edition workbooks will also be freely available and posted at the same time the HTML goes live. The second edition’s HTML version will soon have a stable, permanent URL at “/single2e/”, and we’ll make a formal announcement when that is live, along with a link to a single page on the site that provides all of the corresponding PDFs for the text and workbooks.
The new second edition of ACS has some significant updates to Chapters 1 and 3, and replaces the original Chapter 8 with a different chapter focused on Taylor polynomials and series. At this separate page, you can see a detailed summary of the changes between the first and second editions.
At the end of this post are several different scenarios that show how you may be impacted by these changes, depending on your plans and preferences: continue using the first edition, consider using the second edition, or use the textbook on the Runestone platform.
In upcoming posts between now and August 14, we’ll
- share when the 2nd edition is officially live and available with a summary of updated URLs (there will also be some minor reorganization of parts of activecalculus.org);
- share a fully updated set of new ancillary resources for ACS;
- provide more information about the new “printable worksheets” that are available for each individual activity in the 2nd edition in the HTML format; and
- announce more information plans for the new print version in January 2026 that corresponds to the 2nd edition.
If you have questions or concerns about anything posted here, I welcome hearing from you directly at boelkinm at gvsu dot edu or via the Google Group for instructors.
I want to continue using the first edition of AC-single
The only significant change is that the HTML for the first edition will only be available from https://activecalculus.org/single1e/. The free PDF version of the text and those of the workbooks will remain the same, as will the links to the bound copies for sale on Amazon. The main landing page for all things related to the single variable text, https://activecalculus.org/acs/, will point the reader to these options for the single1e edition.
I want to consider using the second edition of AC-single
Be sure to read the detailed summary of the differences between the first and second editions. Beyond the content and organizational differences, it’s important to note: while free PDF versions of both the textbook and workbooks for the 2nd edition will be posted, there will not be bound versions of the 2nd edition for sale on Amazon until January 2026. If the absence of a print version is problematic, you’ll likely need to wait until at least January 2026 to move to the 2nd edition.
Note that it is always fine for instructors, departments, and bookstores to print PDF copies of the text or workbook and even to sell them to students to cover the printing cost.
[August 7 update] The new stable HTML for the 2nd edition is now posted at https://activecalculus.org/single2e/.
I want to use AC-single in Runestone
The Runestone version of ACS has always used the alternate version of Chapter 8. By no later than August 8, the fully updated 2nd edition will appear at the ACS link in the Runestone library. The Runestone version of the text is the only one that has the Preview Activities rendered as interactive WeBWorK exercises.
If you are unfamiliar, Runestone is a LEAP (Learning Engineering Analytics Platform) that is an open-source platform that enables students to log into their textbook, save their work on interactives such as WeBWorK exercises, and offer instructors the opportunity to (automatically) grade those exercises. See more information in this August 2023 blog post.
