Prerequisites: First year calculus, either 1210-1220 or 1250-1260. 2210 is recommended, but not essential.
Quizzes: There will be a quiz the last half of class every Friday, except August 25, September 22, and November 3, with a quizzes on Wednesdays October 4 and November 22. There are no makeups on quizzes under any circumstances. The lowest quiz score is dropped.
There will be two midterms, scheduled for September 25 and November 1. The second midterm should be considered comprehensive in the sense that the later material of the course builds on the earlier.
The final exam is on December 11 from 8-10 a.m. in the usual room. The final will cover all material covered in the course.
If for an extremely important reason you cannot attend on the exam dates, I need at least three weeks notice, except in the case of emergency. In this case, you will take the exam before the date given.
There will be three computer lab projects. We will use MAPLE for these projects. The student is not required to know MAPLE, and hopefully will have a good working understanding of MAPLE by the end of the semester. The computer labs will be held in LCB 115, and are scheduled for September 11, October 16, and November 27.
The final course grade will be computed as follows: each midterm counts for 20%, quizzes count 20%, computer labs count 20%, and the final exam is worth 20%. I intend to grade on a traditional straight scale, with grades lower than 60% considered failing, and 93% or higher earning an A. The grading will not be stricter than this, but may be less so.
It is useful to think of linear algebraic concepts geometrically. This course will introduce more terminology than the math courses you've taken up until this point (for example, calculus). It helps to learn the geometric meaning of each concept.
A primary focus of the course will also be to develop problem-solving ability. To this end, a number of "story problems" will be assigned. In fact, I will rarely require a simple computation to be turned in. I recommend reading the section of the text that we are covering in class before coming to class, so you are prepared to ask questions and have them answered.