Math 395C -- Honors Linear Algebra -- Fall 2004, Prof. C. Ward Henson

This is a description of what was done in each class; there is a separate listing of the homework that was assigned.
Come to class ready to discuss any examples or problems that you were not sure of.

References are to the textbook for this class, Algebra, by M. Artin.

Classes are described in reverse time order.


Class 29 (Th 12/9): finish 7.1  (did not do Theorem 1.25).

Class 28 (Tu 12/7): begin 7.1; bilinear forms and orthogonality.

Class 27 (Th 12/2): cover 4.6; diagonalization over the field of complex numbers.

Class 26 (Tu 11/30): finish 4.5.

Thanksgiving vacation 11/23 and 11/25.

Classes 24 and 25 (Tu 11/16 and Th 11/18): cover 4.5; rigid motions of vector spaces over R, orthogonal matrices.

Class 23 (Th 11/11): in-class exam #2 (50 minutes, during the regular class period); on all of Chapter 3 and sections 1 through 4 of Chapter 4.

Class 22 (Tu 11/9): practice exam and discussion of problems.

Class 21 (Th 11/4): finish 4.4.

Class 20 (Tu 11/2): finish 4.3 and begin 4.4; characteristic polynomial.

Class 19 (Th 10/28): finish 4.2 and begin 4.3; eigenvectors and eigenvalues.

Class 18 (Tu 10/26): begin 4.2; row rank equals column rank, matrix of a linear transformation with respect to bases of its domain and codomain.

Class 17 (Th 10/21): finish 4.1.

Class 16 (Tu 10/19): finish 3.6 and begin 4.1; linear transformations between vector spaces.

Class 15 (Th 10/14): cover 3.6; direct sums of vector spaces.  (Students should cover 3.5 on their own.)

Class 14 (Tu 10/12): cover 3.4; notation for change of basis.

Class 13 (Th 10/7): in-class exam #1 (50 minutes, during the regular class period); on on 1.1-5, 2.1, and 3.1-3.

Class 12 (Tu 10/5): practice exam.

Class 11 (Th 9/30): finish 3.3.

Class 10 (Tu 9/28): continue 3.3.

Class 9 (Th 9/23): begin 3.3; linear independence, basis, and dimension of a vector space.

Class 8 (Tu 9/21): cover 3.1 and 3.2; introduce the concept of field and of vector space over a field.

Class 7 (Th 9/16): cover 2.1; groups (just to have the concept and some elementary facts).

Class 6 (Tu 9/14): finish 1.4.

Class 5 (Th 9/9): finish 1.3 (plus a quick discussion of 1.5); begin 1.4, permutations and their matrices.

Class 4 (Tu 9/7): continue 1.3.

Class 3 (Th 9/2): finish 1.2; begin 1.3; determinants.

Class 2 (Tu 8/31): begin 1.2; row operations.

Class 1 (Th 8/26): cover 1.1; matrix operations, especially multiplication.