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Handy
Links:
Linear
Algebra Toolkit Math
E-21b syllabus
Textbook
Linear Algebra
with Applications, 3rd Edition, by Otto Bretscher, published
for 2005 by Prentice Hall.
The ISBN for the text is 0-13-145334-3. It will available at the Harvard
Coop bundled with the student solutions manual.
Compare prices:
Linear Algebra With Applications, 3rd Ed.
A copy of the text is on reserve in the Grossman Library in Sever Hall.
Note: It's possible to get by with either of the previous editions since
we'll be posting the homework assignments as PDFs.
Program
for RREF
for the TI-82
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Announcements:
Thanks
for attending the course!
The Final
Exam took place on May 22, 2008.
The exams have been graded and course grades have been submitted to the
Harvard Extension School.
The Course evaluation response rate was 50.7%.
Approximate letter
grades for Exam #1
Total points on exam was 48. Median
score was 38.5.
Mean score was 37.8. Standard deviation was 7.8. |
| score |
grade |
|
score |
grade |
| 44-48 |
A |
28-29 |
C+ |
| 40-43 |
A- |
25-27 |
C |
| 37-39 |
B+ |
22-24 |
C- |
| 33-36 |
B |
20-21 |
D |
| 30-32 |
B- |
0-19 |
E |
| Exam #1
solutions |
| Practice
Exam #1 Solutions |
|
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Approximate letter
grades for Exam #2
Total points on exam was 44. Median
score was 34.
Mean score was 32.9. Standard deviation was 8.6. |
| score |
grade |
|
score |
grade |
| 40-44 |
A |
24-25 |
C+ |
| 37-39 |
A- |
22-23 |
C |
| 33-36 |
B+ |
20-21 |
C- |
| 29-32 |
B |
18-19 |
D |
| 26-28 |
B- |
0-17 |
E |
| Exam #2
solutions |
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Practice Exam #2 Solutions
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The Math E-21b course
(Spring 2008) will
take place on Thursday nights from 7:35pm to 9:35pm.
It will be preceded each week with a Q&A session in Boylston 105
starting at 6:30pm (or soon thereafter).
Math E-21b Course Information and Syllabus
PDF version
Homework
Policy for Math E-21b
Supplement
on the dot product and orthogonal projection
(for those who did not take Math E-21a)
A word about calculators:
Though you can do this course without a
matrix-capable calculator or mathematical software, it's certainly easier
if you have an electronic servant to handle the drudge work. I use a TI-85
(no longer sold, but a good buy if you can find a used one) and I've been very happy with it.
Ideally, you'll want a calculator that can find the reduced row echelon
form of a matrix (RREF). You might also want one that can calculate
determinants, eigenvalues, and eigenvectors, but that's a lesser priority. The
TI-83 Plus, the TI-86
(also discontinued), and the TI-89
calculators can handle these operations. You don't need
anything fancier than this.
One feature that I find very handy is the ability to
display fractions and convert a decimal expression (for a rational number)
to a fraction. That's useful when translating the results of an RREF
calculation into parametric equations for a solution to a system of linear
equations.
Here's a link that gives a comparison of the
various TI calculators.
Other manufactures also produce calculators that will work well with this
course.
Linear
Algebra Toolkit - an excellent online collection of tools that
will not only do the calculations but also walk you through the steps.
(The PERL scripts are written by Przemyslaw Bogacki, Department of
Mathematics and Statistics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.)
Useful Links:
Download your free Adobe
Acrobat Reader for reading and printing PDF formatted documents.
Please send comments to Robert
Winters.
URL: http://math.rwinters.com/E21b
Last modified: Monday, May 26, 2008
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