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Goals: This course is an introduction to Linear Algebra. After calculus, Linear Algebra is the most useful branch of mathematics, with innumerable applications in statistics, computer science, engineering, physics, economics and in mathematics itself. It combines algebra and geometry in a way that is mathematically "clean": the definitions and theorems are simple and precise, and most proofs are short, direct and illuminating.

But Linear Algebra is a modern, abstract subject. All students find the jump in the level of abstraction difficult --- linear algebra is considerably harder than calculus. Be prepared!

Prerequisites: A year of Calculus, Math 299, and a committment to work hard on abstract mathematics.   Course Outline

Textbook: Linear Algebra with Applications, 9th ed. by Steven Leon.     Chapter 1

Additonal Resources: The following additional resources may be helpful.

• Schaum's Outlines: Linear Algebra by S. Lipschutz and M. Lipson. 
• Linear Algebra done wrong, by S. Treil. A free online book with a clean presentation.
• Video lectures: Free video lectures on Linear Algebra are available online from  Johns Hopkins (for a course very similar to ours), and from MIT (for a course that emphasizes the applications of linear algebra to numerical analysis).
• Linear Algebra  by S. Lang.

Web Calculators:  This site and this site (requires Java) calculate eigenvalues and eigenvectors, this site is useful for matrix calculations.