640:350:01: Linear Algebra

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General Remarks on the Course: Although a quick glance at the table of contents of the text seems to suggest that this course is probably very similar to the Math250 course offered in this department, albeit at a higher level, prospective students should be forwarned that the leap from Math250 to Math350 is substantial. This course will not be on recipes: there will be no boxed formulas or colorful graphs. A mere imitation of the examples in the text will not be enough for you to work on the assignments. You are expected to try your best to understand the concepts and ideas, be able to apply the concepts and ideas in different situations, and present logical proofs in concise, comprehensible form (not just scattered computations without logical explanations). To achive this purpose, you will be expected to do substantial readings of the text/supplementary hand-outs on your own, actively participate in the classroom discussions, and keep up with the pace of the course.

Homework Policy: Homework problems will be assigned at each lecture, and are classified into two categories: required and recommended. You are responsible for completing all assigned problems in a timely fashion and hand in only the required problems by the announced due time; many test problems will be based on these assigned problems. Late homework will not be accepted .

Attendance and Make-up Policy: Class attendance is expected. Poor attendance will be used to decide borderline grade situations. Any changes to the syllabus, homework assignment and any announcement for the midterms and final exam will be made in the lectures. A make-up midterm will be given only if you have a valid reason such as serious illness (not a slight cold) or a family emergency, and provide an acceptable, written excuse (not an email message), or you will receive a grade of zero. If possible (particularly if you want to be sure that your excuse is an acceptable one), contact me before missing an exam.

Your grade will be determined on the following 500-points basis:

• 100 points for the homework grades
• 110 points for each of the two in-class midterm exams
• 180 points for the final exam

Here are links to dated material, as our course progresses.

• You may find a copy of our section's syllabus here. It is subject to adjustment. Any updated information should be posted on this web page. However, the most accurate information will be from the lectures.
• Here is the file for Homework Assignment, which, again, is subject to modification as the course progresses.
• You can find the handout for 250 review here. For the quiz next Monday, you need to be able to handle the problems in the handout and problems involving basic matrix operations.
• You can find the key points for week 1 here.
• Timothy Shields has graciously agreed to allow his solutions, page 1 and page 2of assignment 1, to be shared with the class.
• You can find the key points for week 2 here.
• You can find the key points for week 3 here.
• You can find here the key points for week 4 and week 5.
• You can find here some review problems for the first midterm prepared and used by Professor Wilson in spring 2008. Note the #3(c)--(f) and #8 are not on our syllabus for the first midterm. Here you can find solutions to these review problems prepared by Professor Wilson.
• Here is a list of true or false questions which are meant to help you review the concepts.
• Here are solutions to assignment 2 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• Here are page 1 and page 2 of solutions to assignment 3 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• Here are page 1 and page 2 of solutions to assignment 4 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• Due to the cancellation of class on March 2, the assignment due on March 5 will be deferred to March 12.
• Here are solutions to Midterm I.
• Here are some key points to the lectures in week 6.
• Here are some key points to the lectures in week 7.
• Here are some key points to the lectures in week 8.
• Here are page 1 and page 2 of solutions to assignment 5 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• Here are solutions to assignment 6 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• The second Midterm is scheduled on April 13, covering from 2.5 to 5.4. You should first review the the problems in our assignments, and if you would like to have more practice problems, you can use the review problems prepared by Professor Wilson, in particular #3, and #5--#15. Note that these review problems do not directly cover the matetial of 2.5 and 5.4.
• Here are some key points to the lectures in week 9 on diagonalization of a linear operator and invariant subspaces. This note now also contains a proof to #21 of 5.4
• Here are some key points to the lectures in week 10 on Jordan canonical forms.
• Here are solutions to assignment 7 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• Here are solutions to assignment 8 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• Here are solutions to Midterm II.
• Here are some introductory points to the lectures in week 12 on inner product spaces.
• Here are some notes to the lectures in week 13. We will reply more on the notes this week, using 6.3---6.6 as supplementary reading material.
• Here are solutions to assignment 9 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• Here are solutions to assignment 10 prepared by Timothy Shields.
• Here are solutions to select problems from assignment 11.

The midterm exams will be tentatively scheduled on these dates:

• Midterm I: February 26. The coverage includes all material covered up to and including 2.4.
• Midterm II: April 13, covering from 2.5 to 5.4.
• FINAL EXAM: Friday, May 8, 8:00AM -- 11:00AM, SEC 220.

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  For comments regarding this page, please send email to zchan AT math DOT rutgers DOT edu.