MA-305-001 Linear Algebra and Matrices Spring 1997

Harrelson 201, TH 4:05 pm-5:20

Instructor:

Teaching Assistant: Text:

General Information

Grading will be done with plus/minus refinement.

There will be homework assignments, some to be done on computers using the Maple systems, two mid-semester examinations during the semester and a final examination during examination week. The final will count 25% of the grade, the midterm exams will count 17.5%. Homeworks will count 40%. Class attendance will not be monitored in any way.

On-line information: All information on courses that I teach (except individual grades) is now accessible via html browsers, which includes this syllabus. My courses' directory is at

You can also find information on courses that I have taught in the past, and examinations that I have given. Our course is further under LinAlgebra/Spring97.

Course Standards

Examinations: All three examinations will be "closed book-closed notes." However, you will be able to bring a single sheet of paper with pertinent information to the examinations.

Collaboration on homeworks: I expect every student to be his/her own writer/Maple programmer Therefore the only thing you can discuss with anyone is how you might go about solving a particular problem. You may use freely information that you retrieve from public (electronic) libraries or texts, but you must properly reference your source.

Late submissions: All homeworks must be submitted on time. The following penalities are given for (unexcused) late submissions:

Alleged cheating on homeworks: I will not decide any penalty myself, but refer all such cases to the proper judiciary procedures.

Course Outline

Date                    Topic(s)                               Reading


Lect. 1 (Jan 9)         Course overview                        H §1.1
Week 2 (Jan 14, 16)     Reduction to REF, Gaussian elimination H §1.2
                        Reduced REF, Gauss-Jordan elimination  H Appendix B
Week 3 (Jan 21, 23)     Matrix algebra                         H §1.3
Week 4 (Jan 28, 30)     Elementary matrices and applications   H §1.4
Week 5 (Feb 4)          Matrix factorization                   H §1.5
Thu, Feb 6              First Midterm Exam, counts 17.5%
Week 6 (Feb 11, 13)     Determinants                           H §2.1-3
Week 7 (Feb 18, 20)     Cramer's rule                          H §2.4
Week 8 (Feb 25, 27)     Vector spaces, subspaces               H §3.1-4
Week 9 (Mar 4, 6)       Lin independence, span, basis, dim     H §3.5-6
Mar 10-14               Spring break, no classes
Week 10 (Mar 18)        Solution by CEF; rank, null space      H §3.7
Thu, Mar 20             Second Midterm Exam, counts 17.5%
Week 11 (Mar 25, 27)    Return of exam; row and col space,rank H §3.7
Week 12 (Apr 1, 3)      Inner products; ortho complement space H §4.2, class notes
Week 13 (Apr 8, 10)     Least squares, ortho proj,             H §4.3-4
Week 14 (Apr 15, 17)    Lin Trafos, QR factorization           H §4.1, 4.4, 4.5
Week 15 (Apr 22, 24)    Eigenvalues                            H §5.2-3, 5.6
Tue, Apr 29, 1-4pm      Final examination, counts 25%


* This is a projected list and subject to amendment.

Welcome back!
Good luck for this semester!