Math 214: Linear Algebra -- Spring 2015

Professor: Dan Schult
Office: 204 McGregory
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:30-3:30; Wednesday 1:00-3:00 and ANY time by appointment.
Phone: 7651
email: dschult

Introduction: In this course, we will discuss the basic properties of linear operations. That is, operations that can be split into parts without affecting the impact of the operation. For many problems, it is really helpful to split the problem into smaller parts and then recombine. The properties of linear systems also allow us to approximate properties of nonlinear systems just as a tangent line approximates a curve.

Textbook: Introduction to Linear Algebra, G. Strang, Wellesley-Cambridge Press, 2009.

This book has a lot of material online associated with it including the MIT Open Courseware (OCW) video lectures and the textbook's website.
Those links are also on our course webpage.

Course Webpage: http://math.colgate.edu/math214/

Course Structure:
While attendence is not part of your grade, missed classes almost always decreases grades. Come to class.

Weekly Assignments: Problem sets including exercises from the book will be due approximately weekly. The report for each assignment should include your solutions of each problem assigned, or your attempt to solve it and comments about where you are stuck. It should also include an Executive Summary of the report. This summary can be written on a printout of the assignment webpage or on a separate cover sheet for your assignment. The summary should be separated from your work on the problems.

Credit for each assignment is based on this summary and reasonable attempts at all assigned problems. In the summary you will answer two questions using complete sentences:

  1. What idea do you believe is the most important in each part and why?
  2. What troubles did you have with the assignment, if any?
Satisfactory completion of these assignments will be crucial to success in this course. You may work together on the problem sets, but the executive summary should be yours and yours alone.

Exams: There will be three exams held in McGregory 210 on:

Tuesday February 17, 11:20-1:10
Tuesday March 24, 11:20-1:10
Tuesday April 21, 11:20-1:10

Final Exam: A cumulative final exam will be given May 7 from 9-11. The date and time for this exam cannot be altered.

Grades: Your grade will be determined by your work on weekly assignments (10%), mid-term exams (20% each), and the final exam (30%).