Math 235.5 : Introduction to Linear Algebra

Spring 2015

This is the webpage for section 5 of Math 235. The course-wide webpage is here.

Instructor: Paul Hacking
Email: hacking@math.umass.edu
Office: LGRT 1235H
Office Hours: Mondays 5:00PM--6:00PM and Tuesdays 4:00PM--5:00PM, in my office LGRT 1235H.
Classes: MWF 9:05AM--9:55AM in Goessmann Lab 151.

Textbook

The course text is Linear algebra with applications by Otto Bretscher (4th or 5th ed.). googlebooks.

Syllabus

(Numbers are sections from the textbook.)

Linear equations: 1.1 -- 1.3.
Linear transformations: 2.1 -- 2.4.
Subspaces of Rⁿ and their dimensions: 3.1 -- 3.4.
Linear spaces: 4.1 -- 4.3.
Determinants: 6.1 -- 6.3.
Eigenvalues and eigenvectors: 7.1 -- 7.5.
Orthogonality: 5.1, 5.2.

Class log

Homework

There will be weekly homework, due at the beginning of Wednesday's class (first homework due 2/4/15).

The homework and quizzes make up 25% of your course grade.

The solutions to the first quiz are here.

Homework sets

Exams

There will be two midterm exams and one final exam.

The first midterm is Wednesday 2/25/15, 7:00PM--8:30PM, in HASA 0124 (Hasbrouck). The syllabus for the first midterm is Chapters 1 and 2 of the textbook. The review session for the first midterm is Tuesday 2/24/15, 7:00PM--8:30PM, in AEBN 0119 (Agricultural engineering building, square B3 on campus map). Review questions for the first midterm are here.

The second midterm will be held on Wednesday 4/1/15, 7:00PM--9:00PM, in THOM 0108 (Thompson). The syllabus for the second midterm is Chapters 1-3 of the textbook. The review session for the second midterm is Tuesday 3/31/15, 7:00PM--8:30PM, in LGRT 0123. Review questions for the second midterm are here. (Note: You can ignore Q9 because it is not on the syllabus for the exam.) Solutions to the review questions are here.

The final will be held on Tuesday 5/5/15, 10:30AM--12:30PM, in Boyden Gym. The review session for the final is Monday 5/4/15, 7:00PM--9:00PM, in LGRC A301. Please try the review questions here and the supplementary review questions here. Solutions to the supplementary review questions are here.

Calculators, notes, and the textbook are not allowed on exams and quizzes. You should bring your student ID (UCard) to each exam.

The exams make up 75% of your course grade -- 20% for each midterm and 35% for the final.

Useful links

Linear algebra computations can be done on the web in the free mathematical software "sage".
Main sage website.
Use sage online (you will need to create a username and password).
Quick reference guide to linear algebra in sage.

MIT Linear algebra course (lecture videos and course materials freely available).

Google uses linear algebra to rank search results on the web:
Expository article, Original article (see Section 2.1).

This page is maintained by Paul Hacking hacking@math.umass.edu