Announcements

Instructor

Prof. K. Baker, MS 5360, 825-1947, email baker . Office Hours often MWF informally after class, plus Mon 2:30-3:30, Wed 9:30-10:30, Fri 1:00-2:00, and by appointment.

TA:

Pedro Barquero, MS 6139, email pbarq , Office Hours

Text:

Auer, Linear Algebra (reprinted by ASUCLA). It's cheap compared to most texts.

Web site:

The class home page is www.math.ucla.edu/ baker/115a.1.98s/ Check it out. I'll post announcements, copies of handouts, and answers to any questions received via email or virtual office hours.

Prerequisite:

Math 33A.

Exams:

Review Quizzes (required): In section April 7 and April 14.
Midterm #1: Friday, May 1, in class
Midterm #2: Friday, May 29, in class
Final exam: Monday, June 15, 11:30-2:30

Grading: Quizzes 4%, homework 10%, labs 10%, each midterm 18%, final 40%.

Permission in advance is required to miss a midterm, in which case the other tests will count more. You must take the final exam to pass the course.

Syllabus:

We will cover Chapters 4-7, more or less.

Homework:

Due each Wednesday in discussion section. You may consult with the TA, with me, and with others, but of course the final version should be your own. Representative problems will be graded. Some problems will be ``not to hand in'', but you will still be responsible for them and you can ask questions about them in discussion section and office hours. Some exercises may develop concepts going beyond the lectures.

Late homework will not be graded but does count partially; write ``late'' on the paper and pass it in with the next assignment. [continued]

One purpose of the course is to learn enough about writing proofs that you will be ready for other upper-division math courses. The TA is also the Reader for homework, so take advantage of the opportunity to interact until you develop a good style.

Labs:

There will be a few laboratory assignments, to be done on the web; you can use the BH 2817 PIC/Math lab. They do not require a computer language. They will be graded pass/fail. Accounts should exist by the end of the week. To access your account, follow instructions given in the lab.

Review Quizzes

These will be a 10-minute quiz at the end of the first two discussion sections. Each will consist of two problems like some of the ones mentioned, not especially difficult. You are not asked to hand in solutions.

For Review Quiz #1:

Review §1.2 with special attention to adding vectors, subtracting vectors, and multiplying vectors by scalars. Also review §2.4 with special attention to matrix addition, matrix multiplication, and transposes. (Omit applications.) Be able to do any of these operations accurately. Look over the laws relating these operations and be able to give an example of a law relating any two of these three operations.

For Review Quiz #2:

Review §2.1 and §2.2. Be able to say whether a matrix is in reduced row-echelon form (RREF) and be able to row-reduce any matrix to get a matrix in RREF. Also, be able to find the inverse of a matrix (if it exists) using the method of Theorem 2-12, p. 110; it is not necessary to review the rest of that section.

Lectures

This is an upper-division course, so the lectures will not necessarily follow the text page by page. It is a good idea to attend lectures and take notes.

In the future:

Feel free to ask for a job recommendation if you get at least a ``B'' and for grad school recommendations if you get ``A-'' or ``A''.