Discussion on question by Radiant Dawn: Professor does not care about cheating, what should TA do?

@user21820 I don't agree that this is equivalent to getting someone else to do your work for you: that is cheating, since it doesn't advance your own understanding. Reading books on the subject—particularly course books—is research, not cheating.

@user21820 usually a "solution manual" is a publication that accompanies the course book: in my university students were required to purchase this along with the course book itself, because worked examples are a key part of learning. I think that setting problem sheets with publicly available answers and then being surprised that students use them is a bit silly.

@user21820, CharlieB: Most undergraduate publishers that I see now have answers to odd-numbered problems in the textbook, and a separate full-solutions manual marked "For Instructors Only" (usually restricted by a special account login on the publisher's website). If that latter work is obtained and used by students, do you consider it cheating, or not?