Math 308 A: Linear Algebra    (Winter 2005)

  • Class meets MWF, 9:30-10:20 in MEB 248.
  • Text: Introduction to Linear Algebra by Johnson, Riess and Arnold, 5th Edition.

    • Instructor: Joost Slingerland

  • New Office: C-36-H, Padelford Hall (PDL)
    • . This is next to the old office, inside the math-advising office.
  • e-mail: johannes@math.washington.edu
  • Office Hours: Mondays 10:30-12:00 and Fridays 10:30-12:00 in C-36-J
    If you cannot make these hours, then please send me an email so we can make an appointment for some other time.

    • There is now a Message Board for this course. Have a look!

    Course content and Syllabus

    Linear algebra is one of the most applicable branches of mathematics. It is an extremely important tool in almost all of the rest of mathematics and it also seems to turns up in just about every second quantitative problem in science and engineering, wether it's fitting the best line through the points or formulating the foundations of quantum mechanics. At the same time linear algebra is a beautiful subject in itself and a good place to start learning abstract mathematics. This introductory course will show both sides of the subject to some extent. We learn to solve systems of linear equations and this leads to a study of the algebra of matrices, as well as some applications (a.o. data fitting). Then we reach a higher level of abstraction as we look at spaces of arbitrarily large dimension and their subspaces (in fact, we will define dimension, in section 3.5). Finally, we will look at the eigenvalue problem for matrices and at some of the applications of eigenvalues and eigenvectors.

    We will roughly follow the math 308 syllabus posted on the math department's webpage. A more accurate schedule will appear gradually as the course evolves.

    Course Material:

    Exam and Midterms

    There will be two midterms. These will be announced at least one week in advance and which will take place during the usual course time and in the usual room, unless announced otherwise. The final exam time and location have now been definitely set for March 16, 8:30-10:20, in the lecture room. Use of the book, notes or calculators will not be allowed. The quizes will count for approximately 25% of the grade each and the exam will count for approximately 40%. These numbers are for guidance only, the actual weighing may be different (but will be the same for everyone :)). The homework assignments make up the remaining 10%.

    Second Midterm: Friday February 25, 9:30-10:20 AM, in the lecture room

    Homework

    There will be homework exercises to hand in every week except for the weeks before the quizes and the exam. Some of these will be graded and the results will count for 10% of the final grade. The deadline for handing in homework is on the following Monday, at 12:30. Homework can be handed in at the start of class on Monday or during my office hours. You may also leave them in my pigeon hole, in Padelford C130. Please make sure your homework shows some cohesion as well as your name and student number. Late homework will not be accepted. I encourage you to work on the homework in small groups; it is important to learn to communicate about the subject. However, please make sure you do fully understand the solutions to the problems and please write them up from scratch, in your own words. For this week's homework, see the Homework Schedule

    Message Board

    The message board is a place to informally discuss theory and exercises in Linear Algebra. It is open to everyone enlisted in this section. In orde to ensure your privacy, it is closed to just about everyone else. If you have trouble accessing the message board, send me an email and I'll try to add you to the ranks of the privileged.
    The setup of the board is just like a news group; messages are grouped in threads which are associated with a particular subject (for example questions on a specific problem). I will check in on the messageboard regularly and may answer some of the questions, but if you think you already know the answer or see the right direction to go with something, then please jump in; the idea here is that you discuss mostly with each other. The best way to learn to use the message board is probably just to go to it and start using it. However, if you run into trouble, here is a page that explains how to use a message board. Enough talk already; click to

    Enter the Messageboard

    Tools to check your calculations:

    Explore!

    The internet has lots of information on linear algebra. Here are some pages you might want to have a look at:

    Feedback

    If you have questions, comments or suggestions for the lectures and the webpage (maybe you don't like green :)), then please send me an email at the address above. I can't promise to make everybody happy, but I will try.