Lectures: Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-10:45 am, 205 Ewing Hall

OfficeHours: Tuesday 10:45-12:00 am, Wednesday 9:30-11:00

or by appointment

Text: Linear Algebra: A Modern Introduction (Second Edition)

by David Poole

Homework

Homework will be distributed on Thursday roughly every other week (it may change according to the covered material). Late homework will NOT be accepted. If you miss a class it is your responsibility to find out if any assignment was given.

Honors Session

The core of the course will be the same for both the regular and honors sessions. Students who are taking this course for honors’s credits must complete the regular assignments. In addition a few extra assignments will be given for honors’ credits. These additional assignments are concerned with the same theoretical material but will test for a higher level of understanding or will introduce new applications. Honor’s student must complete a project by the end of the semester.

Computer Work

In this course, the computer software MATLAB is used as a computational tool for simple algebraic operations. No prior knowledge of MATLAB is required.

Exams

There will be two midterm exams (100 points each) and one comprehensive final exam (200 points). No makeup exams will be given!

The midterm exams will be held during a regular lecture period.

The date of the midterms and the material to be covered will be announced at least 10 days in advance.

Honor’s session will have a final project (50 points). The project will be assigned at least one month before the end of the semester.

Grades

Final grades will be based on 500 (550 for Honor’s session) points as follows:

Assignments (100), Midterms (2 times 100), Final exam (200)

(Final project for Honor’s session (50)).

Letter grades will be awarded according to the following scale:

91-100% (A), 88-90% (A-),

86-87% (B+), 81-85%(B), 78-80% (B-),

76-77% (C+), 71-75% (C), 68-70% (C-),

66-67% (D+), 61-65% (D), 55-60% (D-),

0-55% (F).

General Remarks

This course will be different from the typical student’s previous math courses. The material is more abstract that what is usually encountered in the “standard” calculus/differential equations courses taken in the first two years. While computations also play an important part in linear algebra, the fundamental concepts must be understood before the material makes any sense. I will attempt to balance computational and theoretical work. This may be the first course you take where you will be expected to write a logical mathematical argument (the so-called “proofs”). This may cause some discomfort at first, but it is representative of future courses you will take in mathematics.

Electronic Communication

All the assignments and other hands out will be sent to you electronically by e-mail. The Web page for this course is listed on the top of the first page. There you will find copies of handouts available for downloading as well as any important announcements. You may send me e-mail with questions regarding the course.