Course information
- Instructor
- Joe Rabinoff
- Lecture time
- MW 9:05–9:55am
- Lecture location
-
Instructional Center 103
- Recitation time
- F 9:05–9:55am
- Recitation location
- B1: Skiles 154
- B2: Skiles 254
- B3: Skiles 255
- B4: Skiles 270
- Prerequisites
- none
- My office
- Skiles 221
- My email
![email](../img/oldaddr.png)
- Office hours
- W 1–2pm, Th 3:30–4:30pm,
and by appointment
- Teaching assistants
- B1: Kamania Ray
- B2: Fan Zhou
- B3: Bharat Kanwar
- B4: Ayush Agrawal
- TA office hours
- Kamania Ray
- F 10–11am
Skiles 230
- Fan Zhou
- F 2–3pm
Skiles 164
- Bharat Kanwar
- Th 12:30–1:30pm
Skiles 230
- Ayush Agrawal
- M 11am–noon
Skiles 230
This website serves as the syllabus. Please read through it
carefully.
Learning objectives
This is a basic, first course in linear algebra. The main goals are to
understand matrices and systems of linear equations, to learn to solve problems
from a mathematical perspective, and to prepare for the many applications of
linear algebra in science and engineering courses.
More specifically, there are three primary topics in this course:
-
Solving equations of the form Ax = b.
-
Students will learn to solve this kind of system of linear equations
through the use of matrices, including the methods of row reduction and
inverse matrices.
-
Students will also learn to understand the set of all solutions to such an
equation — with varying parameters — specifically through the
parametric forms for solutions, the geometry of linear transformations, the
characterizations of invertible matrices, and determinants.
- Solving equations of the form Ax = λx.
-
Students will learn to solve these eigenvalue problems through the use of
the characteristic polynomial.
-
Students will learn to use the computation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors
to understand the structure of a linear transformation, for instance by
diagonalization.
-
Almost solving equations of the form Ax = b.
-
Students will learn orthogonal projections and how they are used to find
best-fit solutions to systems of linear equations that have no actual solution.
Textbook
The primary reference for this course is
Linear Algebra and its Applications, 5th edition, by
Lay–Lay–McDonald. We will cover selections from chapters 1, 2, 3,
5, and 6.
Students with a Pearson code can
access the text via
MyMathLab.
The course id is rabinoff30402
. Instructions for obtaining a
Pearson code and logging into MyMathLab can be
found here. Note that this section will use
WeBWorK and not MyMathLab for
online homework assignments, so that the MyMathLab account is really only
good for accessing an electronic version of the text.
While the Pearson code is not required for this course, you are likely to
need the code for other math courses you take at GaTech. In particular,
Lay is bundled with other textbooks for calculus courses, so most likely
buying the code now will save you money in the long run.