A survey of introductory textbooks shows that many authors fail to connect explicitly their discussions of empirical versus molecular formulas with their latter discussions of the composition and structure of nonmolecular solids. A study proposes that some method, such as the use of quotation marks, be adopted to differentiate unambiguously empirical formulas from molecular formulas, and that the terms "empirical" and "molecular" be replaced by the more descriptive terms "relative" and "absolute".