Math 499W, Linear Algebra

Instructor -- Pavel Guerzhoy

The class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30 - 11:45am at 414, Keller Hall.

Office: 501, Keller Hall (5-th floor)
tel: (808)-956-6533
e-mail: pavel(at)math(dot)hawaii(dot)edu (usually, I respond to e-mail messages within a day)
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00-1:20 and 3:00-4:00pm

General Expectations The Department of Mathematics has a general expectations statement, which we are assumed to follow in this class.

Reading In this class we use the book

Sheldon Axler, Linear Algebra Done Right, Springer
The book is really unavoidable, and cannot be replaced with another textbook! There are, however, many linear algebra textbooks which may be useful. Linear Algebra by K. Hoffman and R. Kunze, Prentice Hall, is of particular interest. It covers much more material than this class.

Course Objective To learn basic ideas and notions of linear algebra. It is particularly important to learn to operate with these ideas and notions, namely, to produce mathematically rigorous arguments.

Prerequisites A first course in linear algebra, Math 311

Grading Policy The course contains a combination of concepts, ideas and techniques, which the students must be able to apply in solving specific problems. An overwhelming majority of these problems requires to either prove or disprove a certain statement. At the end of the day, your grade will reflect your ability to solve specific problems. This assumes your ability to read and understand the textbook. The verb to understand, in this context, means to be able to create arguments which are similar to those provided in the text. A particular emphasis will be put on the students' ability to write the proofs in a mathematically correct way. More specifically, the following rules are to be taken.

Final exam will count for 30% of the final grade. The exam is cumulative (it covers all the material).
Final exam will consist of a "take home" and "in class" portions. The "in class" portion will take place on Thursday, December 13, 9:45 - 11:45, and the "take home" portion will be distributed a approximately week before that. There will be no make-ups for the final.

Mid-term test, which covers the material of Chapters 1,2,3,4,5 from the book counts for 30% of the final grade.
Midterm exam also will consist of a "take home" and "in class" portions. The precise date of the midterm will be announced in class approximately one week in advance. At the same time the "take home" portion will be distributed. A make-up exam will only be given in very unusual circumstances, with one week prior notification (or in the event of an emergency, "very" strong documentation of that emergency). Not attending class, and hence not being present when the midterm is announced or administered is not an acceptable excuse.

Quizzes will be given approximately bi-weekly, and the average grade for the quizzes counts for 40% of the final grade.

Every quiz consists of problems similar (maybe even identical) to those from the regular homework and/or discussed in class. For this reason, it is highly recommended to solve homework problems, and to attend the classes, where many of these problems will be discussed. There will be no make-ups for quizzes, however, two lowest scores (which may be just zero for missed quizzes) will be discarded before taking the average.

The following are not part of the grading scheme:

Attendance and regular homework

Contents and regular Homework assignments

This table is approximate, and will be updated regularly.

An example of how to read the table.

On Tuesday, 21 Aug we covered pages 1-12 of Chapter 1 in class.
For Thursday, 23 Aug your assignment is to
- Do problems 1,2,4 on page 19
- Read pages 1-12 thoroughly.
- Do a first reading of pages 13-18.

Date	Sections	Homework Assignment	Reading
Tue, 21 Aug	Ch. 1, p1-12	1,2,4 on p19	Ch. 1, p1-18.
Thu, 23 Aug	Ch. 1, p13-18	5,7,8,14,15 on p 19	Ch. 1, p13-18 and Ch. 2, p22-23
Tue, 28 Aug	Ch. 2, p22-24	1,2,4 on p35	Ch. 2, p22-27
Thu, 30 Aug	Ch. 2, p25-30	5,8,9 on p35	Ch. 2, p25-34
Tue, 4 Sep	Ch. 2, p30-32	7,11,12,14,16,17 on p35	Ch. 2, p30-34 esp. 2.18 - 2.2.19
Thu, 6 Sep	Ch. 3, p37-45	3-5,7 on p59	Ch. 3, p37-45, p53-55
Tue, 11 Sep	Ch. 3, p45	8,10,11,14,16,24 on p59	Ch. 3, p48-58
Thu, 13 Sep	Ch. 3, p53-58
Tue, 18 Sep	Ch. 3, p48-53	20-23 on p59
Thu, 20 Sep	Ch. 3, p48-53
Tue, 25 Sep
Thu, 27 Sep	Ch. 4, p63-68		Ch. 4, p63-72
Tue, 2 Oct	Ch. 4, p69-72, Ch. 5, p75-78	3,5,6 on p94	Ch. 5, p75-84
Thu, 4 Oct	Ch. 5, p79-84	8,10,11,15,16 on p94	Ch. 5, p79-87
Tue, 9 Oct	Ch. 5, p84-90		Ch. 5, 87-93
Thu, 11 Oct	Ch. 5, p91-93	20,22 on p94
Tue, 16 Oct			Ch. 8, p163-167
Thu, 18 Oct
Tue, 23 Oct
Thu, 25 Oct	Ch. 8, p163-167, 173-174	1,3,10-12 on p188	Ch. 8, p163-176
Tue, 30 Oct	Ch. 8, p175-176, 183-187	5,19 on p188	Ch. 8, p177-187
Thu, 1 Nov	Ch. 8, p168-169
Thu, 6 Nov	Ch. 8, p172-173, 179-182	21-23,25-27 on p188
Tue, 8 Nov	Ch. 6, p97-102	3,9 on p122	Ch. 6, 97-111
Thu, 13 Nov	Ch. 6, p103-108	5,6,8,10 on p122	Ch. 8, 108-116
Tue, 15 Nov	Ch. 6, p108-116	13,19-21 on p122	Ch. 6, p117-121, Ch. 7, p127-132
Tue, 20 Nov	Ch. 6, p117-121, Ch. 7, 127-132	26-29 on p122 & 1,2,16 on p158	Ch. 7, p133-137
Thu, 27 Nov	Ch. 7, p133-137	12,13 on p158	Ch. 7, p144-150
Tue, 29 Nov	Ch. 7, p144-150	19,20,21 on p158	Ch. 7, p152-157
Tue, 4 Dec	Ch. 7, p152-157	23 on p158
Thu, 6 Dec	Ch. 7, p152-157	23 on p158