Professor: Geoffrey Mess, MS 5372, phone 825-2486, email mess@math.ucla.edu

Office hours: Wed 2-2.50, Friday 2-2.50, or by appointment.

TA: Pan Peng, MS 3919, email ppeng@math.ucla.edu Peng's office hours: ?

The point of the course is not to do computations with matrices. You already did that in Math 33A. In Math 115A you will learn theorems and their proofs. You will also produce your own proofs.

Solving a homework problem is not a matter of writing down a final answer or a few computational steps, as it usually is in calculus problems. The solution to a problem will usually be a short or medium paragraph, written in complete sentences, that gives a complete explanation that could be followed by someone who didn't know how to solve the problem. Of course the sentences will usually include some mathematical notation. There will also be some purely computational problems.

Homework will be collected at the beginning of each discussion section. Avoid coming in late, but if you must, hand in your homework immediately on arriving. If you have questions or want hints about the problems, talk to Peng or me before Thursday.

In addition to doing the homework you will need to spend several hours a week studying the textbook and your lecture notes. At the upper division level you can't expect to understand each lecture without additional study. Don't get behind. After each lecture study your notes and book before the next lecture.

Midterm and final questions are not always similar to homework questions. They are always chosen so that you will be able to solve them if you have studied thoroughly.

You are responsible for learning all the definitions and all the theorems their proofs. Occasionally test questions simply ask you to recall definitions, statements or proofs of theorems, but more often your learning is tested by problems that require you to make use of the definitions, theorems and proofs.

All of the content of 115A is used in other mathematics classes including differential equations, analysis, numerical analysis, and differential geometry as well as algebra. 115B is a good sequel course.

In real life, computations in linear algebra are not done by humans but by computers. If you want to learn more about matrix computation, take 151AB, for which you will need to know all of 115A. After that you can learn how to do computer simulations of atmospheric circulation or supernovas, or

Assessment: 20% homework, 20% midterm, 60% final. The midterm will (probably) be on May 4. It will cover chapter 4 and chapter 5 up to 5.6 and you will also be responsible for the material in chapters 1-3.

Text: Linear Algebra, 3d edition, by O'Nan and Enderton, reprinted by UCLA Academic Publishing Service. Only $25.75 ! Hopefully, you learned the content of chapters 1-3 in Math 33A (or equivalent course elsewhere) and you are responsible for it. We will cover all of chapters 4, 5, 6 and at least sections 7.1, 7.2, 7.3. We may do one or two extra topics. If so I will tell you.