Course Information (syllabus)

Course Information

 The objectives of this course are: to develop competence in the basic concepts of linear algebra, including systems of linear equations, vector spaces, subspaces, linear transformations, the fundamental subspaces of a matrix, eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and matrix decompositions (e.g., LU, QR, SVD, etc.).

Text: Applied Linear Algebra by Peter J. Olver and Chehrzad Shakiban. (Here are corrections to the 2nd printing and to the 3rd printing)

We will cover most of Chapters 1-8 of the text. Homework assigments (see D2L) will be from the text.

The syllabus for the course is on D2L.

Lecture Times and Location

Instructor Room Number Time
James Meiss ECCR 150 MWF 12-1
James Curry FLMG 102 MWF 2-3

Office Hours & Help Sessions

Instructor Rooom Number Office Hours Email
James Meiss ECOT 236 M2-3, W 10-11, F 1-2 James.Meiss(at)Colorado.edu
James Curry ECOT 242 M 3:15-4:15, T 10-12 James.Curry(at)Colorado.edu

Homework Help Sessions

Time Room LAs
Mondays 6-8PM ECCR 211 Jeffrey & Joe
Tuesdays 6-8PM ECCR 211 Kathryn & Elise

There are four LAs for this class

  • Jeffrey Everett
  • Joe Geisz
  • Kathryn Gray
  • Elise Niedringhaus

Homeworks

Homework is an essential part of this course. Math is best learned through practice, and one of your best opportunities for practice is homework. Collaboration is allowed, but learning from collaboration is crucial. Your homework must be your own work: copying homework is a violation of the honesty policies (see below). Assignments will be due in class each Wednesday at the start of lecture. See D2L for the schedule. A subset of problems on each assignment will be graded. The two homework assignments given before the midterm exams will not be graded. Of the remaining assignments, the two with the lowest scores will be dropped. Late homework will be penalized and will not be accepted after the answers have been posted.

Exams

There will be two midterm exams during the semester in class on Wednesdays: Oct 4 and Nov 15. There will be no make-up or early exams. If you are sick during an exam, please bring a note from your doctor verifying your illness. The rest of your course work will then determine your course grade.

Projects

It might not seem so, but writing is an important skill in mathematics. For this reason, there will be a written class project. For the project you will work in groups of two to three. You will choose an application of matrix methods (of mutual interest to the group!) and prepare a paper on this application. Several choices of papers will be provided. The goals of the project are for you to:

  • Learn how matrix methods play a role in some topic of your interest.
  • Use the material covered to explore current applications.
  • Gain experience with computational methods and programming.
  • Enhance technical writing skills. 

The detailed project requirements and a tentative list of topics will be found here later in the semester

Policies