Linear Algebra
Math 2250, Fall 2015

Table of Contents

• Quizzes and solutions
• Class data
• Professor
• Schedule
• Requirements and grading
• Assignments
  
• Review session for the final exam: 11 - 1 in 111 State Hall, December 18. This is a drop-in session: you need not stay the whole time, but can just come to ask questions and discuss matters, then leave.

Quizzes and solutions:

Class:

• Math 2250, Section 003
  
• 217 State Hall
  
• MWF   10:40 - 11:35
• Text: Linear Algebra, 4th ed., David C. Lay (Addison Wesley) ( errata)
  (The 5th edition has just been released. Be sure you get the 4th. The WSU bookstore has the correct edition.)
  
• Course web page: http://www.math.wayne.edu/~rrb/classes/m2250f15/

Professor:

• Robert Bruner
  
• Office: 1201 FAB,   (313)-577-2479
• Math Department:   (313)-577-2479
• Fax:   (313)-577-7596 (shared)
• e-mail: rrb followed by at sign then math dot wayne dot edu
• Office hours:   Mon 1:00 - 2:00, Fri 12:00 - 1:00, and by appt.
  I will always be available during my office hours. In addition, you are welcome to make appointments to see me at other times.

Requirements and grades:

The secret to doing well is to attend class and to read the book. You should read each section before we talk about it in class, then again after class, before doing the homework for the section. If you have any trouble understanding it, read it several times, first quickly, for an overall idea what the section is about, then in detail, working out the examples the book uses to make sure you know why each statement is true. Only after this should you start the homework. You may be pleasantly surprised how much easier the homework is with this sort of preparation. You will certainly understand the material and retain more of it, if you study in this way.

Special attention will be paid to the quality of the writing you turn in. Mathematics consists of logical relations between ideas, not just calculations. Understanding and explaining the logical relationships will make your work easier to do and easier to read.

There will be weekly quizzes each Wednesday, of about 10 minutes duration, which will help you assess your understanding of the material. The best 10 of these (out of 13) will be counted toward your final grade. The quiz and a solution to it will be posted here after the quiz has been given.

Grades will be computed as follows:

Schedule:

Here is a schedule of the exams and the material we will cover.

Test 1	Wednesday, September 30
Test 2	Wednesday, October 28
Test 3	Monday, November 23
Final Exam	Tuesday, December 22, 8:00 - 10:30 AM

Each test will cover the material we have done up to that point, and will be preceded by a review day.

Topics:

Chapter 1	Linear Equations, row reduction, solutions, linear transformations.
Chapter 2	Matrices, dimension and rank.
Chapter 3	Determinants.
Chapter 4	Vector Spaces, subspaces, linear independence, spanning, bases, linear transformations revisited.
Chapter 5	Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
	and, as time permits, as much as we can of
Chapter 6	Orthogonality, Gram-Schmidt and least squares.
Chapter 7	Symmetric matrices and quadratic forms.

Assignments