· Instructor: Marlow Anderson.

· Contacts: My office is Palmer 140; my official office hours are 1:30-2:30 p.m. each afternoon, but I am available at many other times (just before class is usually not a good time, however). Please make an appointment if necessary. I will also often make office hour announcements regarding your Number Theory days. A good way to contact me is by e-mail: Manderson@ColoradoCollege.edu. All course assignments and syllabus information are available on my website at http://rikki.cc.colorado.edu/~manderson/.

· Textbook: Introduction to Linear Algebra, by Gilbert Strang; ATLAST Computer Exercises for Linear Algebra, by Steven Leon, Eugene Herman, Richard Faulkenberry

· Course Schedule: We will meet daily at 9 a.m. In addition, we will have one problem session per week on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon, as specified on the daily schedule below. In addition there are two Friday afternoon mathematics department seminars which required for the course.

· Nature of the Course: This is an excellent bridge course, spanning the gap between the computational emphasis of the calculus and the more theoretical emphasis of 300 level mathematics courses. As such, there will be a bit more emphasis on proof and theory than in calculus. But linear algebra has a great balance between theory and practical computation. I won’t be assigning so many mechanical computational problems for homework as is done in calculus, but will assume you master the techniques involved. The problem sessions will be a good place to make sure you have the techniques (as well as the theory) well in hand. In addition, we will be working quite a number of homework problems during the class sessions.

You will be taking MA251: Number Theory from Mike Siddoway at the same time as you are doing this course. These courses complement one another well: Number Theory emphasizes pure mathematics and proof, while Linear Algebra emphasizes applications and computation. Both allow us to see how the algebraic techniques you are used to can be generalized to more abstract situations. Feel free during office hours to ask me questions about number theory, and Mike about linear algebra.

· Computing: We will be making intense use of the linear algebra package MATLAB; the ATLAST book contains exercises and projects designed to be done with this program. This package is available on the network; in this building, the mathematics computer lab in Palmer 14 in the sub-basement is a good place to access the program. For more information about this program, see the MATLAB Handout.

· Daily Quizzes: There will be a short quiz (covering material discussed on the previous class day) every class day. This quiz will be available for you, starting immediately after class in the morning, until mid-afternoon (this will vary somewhat from day to day, but I will make it clear each day). You should take this quiz when you are ready, signing an Honor Code pledge that you have used neither your books, nor your notes, nor the assistance of anyone else (you may certainly ask me questions, which I may or may not be willing to answer). These quizzes will be short, designed to be completed in no more than 15 or 20 minutes, although there will be no time limit enforced (except that they need to be completed by 3:30 p.m.). You need to be judicious about when you take the quiz on Problem Session Days!

· Exams: There will a closed book, closed notes and closed colleagues Midterm Exam, on our last class day of Block 5, and then a Final Exam on the last class day of Block 6.

· Homework: Each day I will assign a selection of problems from both Strang and ATLAST. On the next class day, I will select a few of these for presentation at the board by class members. I will ask for volunteers for these oral presentations, and expect and hope that everyone will do his or her fair share. Sometimes, for longer projects out of the ATLAST book, I may assign particular problems to groups of you, with a guarantee that you will get to present your work at the next class session. Once a week, we will use the afternoon problem session to catch up on interesting and important homeowork problems not yet discussed in class.

You should keep a well-organized loose-leaf notebook containing your homework solutions. If a problem you were unable to do is presented in class, you may feel free to include that successful solution as part of your notebook.

The homework segment of the course will be evaluated in two ways: first by your classroom participation in oral presentations, and second, by my qualitative evaluation of your notebooks. I will collect your notebooks twice, once at the end of the Block 5, and once at the end of the course.

· Grades: Your course grade will be based on the following scheme: Daily Quizzes 30%, Midterm 30%, Final Exam 30% and Homework 10%.

· Approximate Schedule: Here is an approximate schedule for the two blocks. Note in particular the afternoon problem sessions, and the two Friday afternoon seminars.

· Default Homework Assignment: Carefully read the assigned section of the text after class. Strang is an excellent writer, with a strong point of view. I will often approach the given material from quite a different perspective than Strang; I will assume you are familar with the text and the lectures. Unlike a calculus class, where many students can and do survive without reading the textbook much, at this level it is crucial that you learn how to read and use your text!

· Homework Assignments: These assignments are given by section, and not by day, in case we fall behind or get ahead of the official schedule above. Some of the problems in ATLAST will be assigned to particular groups (and not to the entire class); such problems are in bold face in the list below. Your homework notebook should include the problems you do as part of a group, but need not include problems done by other groups.