Math 308 N Matrix Algebra (3 credits), Winter 2019

• Office : Padelford C-438
• E-mail : rrthomas (at) uw (dot) edu
  (Please use email only for emergencies such as if you are sick and cannot take a test because of it. Please ask all other questions in class, TA section, or office hours.)
• Office hours : Monday 3:30-4:30 BAG 154 (Review style office hours), Friday 1-2 PDL C-438

• Office : Padelford C-8M
• Email : pryhuber (at) uw (dot) edu
• Office hours : Wednesday 10-12 in PDL C-8M

Course Information

• Lecture : Bagley Hall 154, MWF 2:30-3:20 pm
  
  
• TA sections : Smith Hall 105, Tuesdays at 2:30 (NA), 3:30 (NB), 4:30 (NC)
  
  
• Course materials :
  • Textbook : Linear Algebra with Applications, Second Edition, by Jeffrey Holt
    
    
  • Videos : These YouTube videos by 3Blue1Brown are an excellent resource for understanding the geometry behind many of the concepts we will learn in this class.
    
    
  • Professor Gilbert Strang's video lectures on linear algebra. These lectures are based on a course in linear algebra at MIT. The topics are not exactly aligned with our textbook but you can watch the appropriate video as we cover the topic in class.
    
    
  • (Rough) Schedule of lectures and exam archive The official Math 308 page for the Deoartment of Mathematics We will follow this lecture schedule pretty closely. The homeworks and other items will be customized to this class.

• Homeworks and Exams

  • Homeworks (20% of overall grade):
    
    There are two types of homework assignments each week.
    • WebAssign homework (10% of overall grade): These are problems from the textbook and mostly give you practice with the basic mechanics of the course. Here is the link for UW WebAssign login.
      
      
    • Test prep homework (10% of overall grade): These are more challenging problems that will be assigned as homework each week. At least half of every exam will be modeled on these homeworks. Each student must individually turn in solutions to these problems in class on WEDNESDAYS. The TA will grade a subset of them for completeness. Please start each problem on a new page so that the TA can find them easily. You will receive solutions to these problems.
      
      Exams will be modeled closely on the homework problems and lectures. It would be worthwhile to spend time really understanding how to do the homework.
      
      
  • Exams (80% of overall grade):
    
    There will be two midterms and a final exam.
    
    • Midterm I (20% of overall grade) : Friday, February 1, in class.
    • Midterm II (20% of overall grade) : Friday, March 1, in class.
    • Final Exam (40% of overall grade) : 2:30-4:20 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in class.
      
      
    Policy for Exams
    • One handwritten 8.5 by 11 sheet of notes is allowed. 2-sided is OK.
    • The only calculator allowed is the Texas Instruments TI-30X IIS.
    • There are no make-up exams. If you have a compelling and well-documented reason for missing a test, speak to the professor about it as soon as you can.
  
  
  
• Structure of the course and expectations: : Matrix algebra is the first course in the math curriculum that introduces a student to mathematical abstraction. While it still has a lot of computational and mechanical components it also requires you to make logical arguments to justify answers. It is a mathematical language that underlies many modern day applications, but because it is a language, it is important to learn and use its vocabulary correctly. Another feature of this subject is that it is deeply rooted in geometry which is a powerful part of its modeling power. So all in all this might be a new type of math course for many students, but one that you can master by putting in the required work and coming to lectures. The general expectation is that each hour of lecture needs about three hours of work outside the classroom to master the material.
  
  The material in this course will be taught through the lectures, reading assignments (from the textbook), videos and homeworks .
  
  The lectures introduce the concepts and hence tend to be the most straightforward. You will be expected to read the appropriate sections of the textbook to solidify your understanding of the concepts and fill in the parts not covered in lecture. Attending lectures is critical for doing well in this class.
  
  Homework will be based on the material taught in class but is intended to stretch your thinking and teach new concepts. Hence you should not expect that the homework problems will be entirely like the examples in the book or problems worked out in lecture. Understanding how to do the homework problems and learning definitions and vocabulary is crucial for doing well in this class.
  
  
• General Comments
  • Guidelines on how to write up solutions to problems on tests :
    You must show all your work to get full credit. Explain your steps or methods clearly. Use words to give explanations if needed. After you have written a solution ask yourself if someone else in the class could follow and understand your solution easily. Always put yourself in the shoes of the grader when you write solutions to problems. It is important that it be apparent to the grader that you did this work on your own and that he/she understands your logic. Make it easy to grade your work. This also requires you to be organized and clear in your writing. Writing that is hard to understand or disorganized will be assumed to be wrong.
    
    
  • Make-ups: : There are no make-up exams. If you have a well documented medical excuse, please talk to me as soon as possible.
    
    
  • Partial Credit: There might be questions on exams that carry no partial credit. This is usually because of the nature of the question where a partially correct answer may make no sense at all. For instance, a misstated definition is just a false statement and couldn't be graded with partial credit. It is important to learn to do computations and make arguments correctly from beginning to end.
    
    
  • Keep records : Please hold on to all your graded work until you receive your final grade. You will be asked to produce these if there are any questions or complications regarding records during the quarter.
    
    
  • Tips on getting a good grade:
    • Read the assigned reading materials and attend lectures. It is very important to really understand the concepts (as opposed to memorizing facts). It is not enough to know recipes to solve numerical problems. You will be asked questions that test your understanding of the material. A good way to find out whether you really understand something is to try to explain it to someone. You might be surprised to see how hard it is to accurately explain/reproduce a concept that you think you understand.
      
    • Write clearly and correctly. Be logical in your arguments. Learn definitions and statements of theorems accurately. Remember that I can only evaluate your written work and so it is important to convey your knowledge precisely in your writing.
      
    • Do the homework problems. Even if you understand the material, it is hard to reproduce this on a test without practice. It's important to learn to work relatively quickly. This can only come with practice.
      
    • Come to office hours if you are having trouble. Let me or your TA know early in the quarter if you are having problems with the course for whatever reason.

Weekly Assignments

Overview: Week 1 (Jan 7-11)