UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

MATH-349 ELEMENTARY LINEAR ALGEBRA Spring 2010

Instructor:	Prof. G. Ebert
	Room 510, Ewing Hall
	Phone & Voice Mail: 831-1870
	E-mail: ebert@math.udel.edu
	Home Page: http://www.math.udel.edu/~ebert

Office Hours: MWF 2:00 - 3:30

Prerequisite: MATH-230, or MATH-242,

Text: David Poole , Linear Algebra A Modern Introduction, Second Edition, Brooks/Cole.

Course Content:

Sections 1.1, 1.2 :	Vectors	approx. 1 week
Sections 2.1-2.3 :	Systems of Linear Equations	approx. 2 weeks
Sections 3.1-3.3, 3.5 :	Matrices	approx. 3 weeks
Sections 5.1-5.3 :	Orthogonality	approx. 3 weeks
Sections 4.1-4.4, 5.4 :	Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors	approx. 2 weeks
Sections 6.1-6.6 :	Vector Spaces	approx. 2 weeks
		Total: 13 weeks

Grading:	Collected HW Assignments :	120 points
	Three In-class Exams:	300 points
	Final Exam:	180 points

Your grade is based on the percentage of the 600 points achieved.

The text is full of many good problems, both computational and theoretical. Please work as many problems as possible. The Student Solutions Manual is on reserve in the library. It has worked-out solutions to all the odd problems, and can be used to check your work. Please work out the problems yourself before checking the solutions, otherwise you will learn nothing.

Eight homework assignments will be collected during the semester, each worth 20 points. I will keep the top six scores, for a maximum total of 120 points. NO LATE HW WILL BE ACCEPTED. You will have approximately one week to work on each collected assignment. Assignments may include some problems from the text, some from other sources, and some involving computer computation. You may discuss homework with other students (this can be a good learning experience), but you must write up your solutions independently. Any computer work must certainly be done independently. Be especially neat in your write-ups, as illegible assignments will not be graded.

There will be three in-class 50 minute exams, announced at least one week in advance. These will be closed book exams with no access to computer software. NO MAKE-UPS! The final will be a two hour comprehensive exam given during the regularly scheduled finals period.

Academic dishonesty is a serious offense and will be prosecuted accordingly. For complete information on the University's policy on this subject, please consult the "Code of Conduct" section in the Student Handbook.

While computations 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. The material is more abstract than what is typically encountered in the "standard" beginning calculus sequence, and you will be expected to write logical mathematical arguments (i.e., "proofs") in addition to performing various computations.

All our computations will be exact, not approximations. The preferred computer software package is MAGMA, which I will discuss in class, but you may use MAPLE if you already know and prefer that package.

Please come to office hours on a regular basis. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE OR EXAMS ARE PENDING. Feel free to contact me with any concerns or questions about the course. Good luck, and enjoy the course!

Last modified February 5, 2010 by Gary Ebert